


When A Shogun Catches A Star

by MURINO



Category: stardust crusaders - Fandom, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Original Character(s), Reader-Insert, Reader-chan is sassy as hell, Self-Insert, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, and kinda badass ngl, could be you if you gave my fic a chance ;)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26211565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MURINO/pseuds/MURINO
Summary: You're minding your business when a certain delinquent at school confronts you, wanting to know why you stabbed your classmate in broad daylight. In return, you want to know why only the two of you could see the ghostly apparition that perpetually follows you around.(Note: will eventually be rated Mature for adult ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) content.)
Relationships: Kakyoin Noriaki/Reader, Kujo Jotaro/Reader
Comments: 93
Kudos: 220





	1. The First Encounter

_Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep bee-_

You hit snooze on the third ring, rolling over in bed to sleep some more. The light peeking through your curtains makes this difficult though, and you note through half-open eyelids that the cherry blossoms have started to bloom outside. How pleasant, but this means…

_Thwack._

A not-so-pleasant smack to the head stops you from re-entering your dream state. Groaning, you cover your head with your pillow - A weak defensive maneuver at best, since it's yanked away from you along with your blanket.

"You gotta stop waking me up like that, Sho." You mumble sleepily.

"How else are you gonna get up, then?"

You peek through your eyelids to see Sho staring you down, feeling his stern stare even through his tinted visor. Even so, you curl up like an armadillo, utterly unwilling to get up. This leaves him no choice but to (quite literally) roll you out of bed, which makes you burst into laughter despite yourself.

"What a pain," He mutters as you finally get to your feet and grab your uniform. You merely flash a playful smile at him before shutting the bathroom door in his face.

☆

School starting again is a drag, but at least it's cherry blossom season.

You leave the house in good time thanks to Sho’s prodding. Your grandma is awake to send you off, and as usual, she doesn’t even glance at Sho as he floats out the door behind you.

Nor do the early morning commuters you pass, for that matter. A completely oblivious businessman even phases right through Sho, earning a 'tch' from him.

"It's not his fault he can't see you."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that." Sho says. He pulls his katana from its sheath and swings at the falling petals, cutting through each one with easy precision.

"Nice," you grin. "Extra points if you do a flip."

"What am I, a show dog?" Sho huffs, but he takes a running start onto a neighbor's car, and in one graceful motion, he cuts through a sakura petal before doing a flip and landing gracefully like a cat, katana sheathed once more.

With a raised arm, you catch the petal in your hand, now cut cleanly into two symmetrical pieces.

A low whistle escapes you. "Not bad." Sho doesn't say anything, but looks proud of himself.

Suddenly, you hear a faint voice calling you from afar.

"Heey! Wait up!"

The obnoxious tone is unmistakable.

You hear an ‘urgh’ from Sho as he fades, leaving you alone to deal with what's to come. Groaning inwardly, you turn to see a boy in your school uniform running up to you, waving excitedly.

It's too late to run, but you nearly attempt it anyway.

"Hey, Yamada…" you say, forcing out a smile.

"Aw, I thought we got to a first-name basis last year." Yamada gives you a puppy face that makes you wanna gag as he catches up. You say nothing to this, yet he continues beaming at you, totally unperturbed by your lack of response.

"First day of school, huh? So, what'd you do over the summer?"

"Nothing much." You say shortly. There's silence as he looks at you expectantly, clearly waiting for you to ask him back. When you don't, he starts talking anyway. "Well I went to Singapore over the summer, and-"

You grit your teeth as Yamada starts on a long spiel about his vacation. Can't he take a hint? It's not that he’s a bad person, but he really forces his company onto you more than you'd like…

"Yamada. Don't take this personally, but I really don't wanna talk to you right now."

He stops short at this, expressionless as he takes in your words. After a while, though, he tries again.

"Alright, but wanna walk home with me after school? I got you a souvenir, and I've been wanting to see you since…"

"Shogun Silver." You mutter. Sho materializes, armed with his katana. In a flash, he stabs it through Yamada's heart from behind, the blade poking cleanly through his front. Yamada's voice trails off, his expression slightly confused – yet he doesn’t seem to notice the sword that had just impaled him.

You take a deep breath, gathering the words as you speak slowly and firmly.

"Stop trying to get close to me. Just treat me as a regular classmate from now on."

Yamada's eyes glaze over as the katana glows at your voice. You give it a few more seconds until the blade dims again, allowing Sho to delicately pull it from his chest.

As for Yamada, he stays completely unmoving for a few more seconds before snapping back into reality. He jumps when he sees you next to him, watching him with mild interest.

"O-oh hey, Satonaka." He stammers, sounding quite awkward. You note the use of your last name. "Um…" he glances his watch and nods at you cordially. "I'll see you at school. Hurry before you're late."

And with that, he rushes off. 

"Using Change of Heart was a little overkill, if you ask me." Sho comments as he watches Yamada's receding back. You only shrug, continuing your walk to school.

"Well, Silver Tongue wasn't enough."

This earns a torrent of laughter from Sho, who says, "Ohh, is that so? He's got it that bad for you, huh?"

" _As if._ ” You snip, trying to sound casual though you feel yourself blushing in indignation. "He's just thinks I'm gonna be his friend if he's clingy enough."

This only makes Sho laugh harder, wheezing as he repeats the word ‘friend’ over and over. You turn away from him with a 'hmph', which is when you see a figure standing ahead on the street.

A boy in your school uniform is staring at you, though ‘boy’ seems a poor choice of words, seeing how tall and muscular he is. You note the black hat and flashy gold chain hanging from his collar.

Jotaro Kujo.

You recognize him as a senior in the grade above you, although... something about how darkly he's staring at you is setting off warning signals in your head.

His gaze doesn't faze you though, so you stop walking to stare back at him, as if daring him to make a move. What's he looking at, anyway? And how long has he been standing there?

Long enough to see the awkward exchange between you and Yamada, probably. Though nobody could really see Sho except you.

Right?

" _Kyaa!! Jojooo!!_ "

The tense staring contest between you is abruptly interrupted, when a chorus of schoolgirls swarm around Jotaro like flies drawn to fresh meat.

Ah, Jotaro's infamous troop of female admirers. You never thought you'd ever be happy to hear their high-pitched squealing.

The same definitely couldn't be said for Jotaro though, who scowls and mutters something under his breath. He shakes the girls off his arms and takes off, leaving them to giggle and quarrel among themselves.

You don't miss the last glance he throws your way before he turns the corner.

"He can see me." Sho says, his arms fold in contemplation as you turn to him in alarm.

"Huh? No way. Nobody's ever been able to see you but me."

"There's no mistaking it." Sho says grimly. "I saw how his eyes moved. He definitely looked at me. Directly."

Sho was rarely wrong about things like this. You bite your lip and continue walking, noticing the girls look your way curiously. If Jotaro Kujo had really seen Sho… well, that would make him the second person ever to do that. But beyond that… what did it mean for you, exactly?

☆

The school rooftop; normally you'd eat here with your best friend, but you'd been quite the loner since she moved over the summer. Still, at least you're guaranteed some peace and quiet, since it's technically a forbidden area for students.

Sho hasn't stopped being paranoid since the incidents of this morning. The moment you were settled to eat he'd popped up and asked what exactly you planned to do about Jotaro Kujo.

"Dunno." You say, popping a shrimp into your mouth.

"You 'don't know'?" Sho bristles like a restless hornet, his crossed legs jumping irritably. "He can see me. He KNOWS. Which means he probably saw me stab that Yamada-"

"We didn't kill him, though." You interject calmly. "Yamada walked away fine, didn't he? Although taking him out for real might've saved me a lot of trouble last year…"

"Dammit... take this seriously!" Sho facepalms his visor. "We can't just leave things like this! He'll think you go around stabbing people for the hell of it..."

You snort at this. "So what d'you want me to do? Introduce you? Tell him my samurai friend that - oh, only the two of us can see - is harmless? I don't even know the guy."

Sho groans at your total lack of regard to his warnings, face in his hand. You sigh, starting to get annoyed with the topic of conversation.

"Drop it, Sho. So what if Jotaro Kujo saw me 'stab' Yamada? I don't owe him any explanations."

A deep voice behind you answers before Sho does.

"Oh, but I think you do."

☆

Sho moves faster than you can turn, lunging at Jotaro Kujo with deadly swings of his katana. You shout for him to stop, but by then he'd swung enough to have killed the guy.

Fuck. The last thing you need is a murder charge on the first day of school.

"Told you he was suspicious." Sho holds his katana threateningly while his free arm covers you. A purple humanoid had appeared out of nowhere, shielding Jotaro who, to your relief, hadn’t been hacked to a million pieces.

But now there's another problem at hand, which is the fact you're apparently now at a stand-off with Jotaro and his purple Smurf on steroids.

"What do you want?” you ask.

"I know you work for Dio." Jotaro looks at you threateningly. "Tell me how he knows I'm here, and I might not beat the crap out of you."

Sho jerks his katana angrily at this, but you press his shoulder firmly, as if telling him to hold off.

"Save the threats," you say, looking up at Jotaro quizzically. "I don't know who Dio is, but I work for nobody. And the only thing sending me here is the compulsory education law."

Jotaro stares at you for a long while, the purple humanoid in front of him still poised to attack. You sigh when it raises its fists in response to your stare – clearly Jotaro isn’t a ‘talk things out’ kind of guy.

"Let me guess. You saw him-" you motion to Sho- "stab a guy and you want answers, right?"

"Hey!" Sho snaps, "Don't act like you didn't make me do that."

"No difference," you say. Jotaro’s eyebrows furrow at this pointless exchange, so you quickly cut to the chase.

"I know what you're thinking. It's true that I – well, Sho, technically - stuck a katana through Yamada this morning, but as you could see, it didn't hurt him at all. It wasn't my intention to, anyway."

Jotaro only narrows his eyes at this - it's clear he won't believe you through words alone, so you continue, "Of course, I can prove it. No reason for me to lie when you've already seen it yourself."

You address Sho this time. "Sho, stab me. If it doesn't hurt me, it didn't hurt Yamada either."

Sho gives you a look, but does as you say. He's behind you in a flash, his katana pushed through where your heart is. This elicits an involuntary wince as you expect it to hurt, but feel nothing despite the blade sticking out of your chest.

Jotaro's eyes fixate on the katana jutting from your bosom, expression still unreadable, yet the purple humanoid shielding him disappears, no doubt called away by Jotaro. At any rate, it seems he buys your demonstration.

"Alright. Then tell me what your Stand's abilities are." Jotaro says as Sho pulls out the blade from your back, gently brushing its point of entry in a surprisingly concerned manner.

" 'Stand'? You mean Sho?" You tilt your head, a little confused. Did he just call him a ‘Stand’…? A funny name, if you say so yourself.

Either way, Jotaro nods, so you relent. "Simply put, I can make people do what I tell them to. A classmate of mine wasn't leaving me alone, so I used Sho's ability to convince him to give me some space this morning."

“Uhuh, a ‘classmate’ that happened to have the hots for you.” Sho mutters, quietly so only you hear. You dig an elbow into his chest, blushing madly, which only makes Sho snicker.

"So let me get this straight," Jotaro addresses you directly. "Your Stand stabs people to brainwash them."

“It's not ‘brainwashing’,” Sho corrects indignantly. “It's causing a change of heart. Slight difference.”

“Right.” Is all Jotaro says, raising an eyebrow.

"Anyways, don't get the wrong idea," you say, hands on your hips. "I know what it looks like, but I don't make a routine out of stabbing people."

"Hmph." Jotaro lifts his hand to adjust his hat, but you swear you see the corner of his lip turned up a little. "I could use an ability like that. Then maybe those girls would finally get off my back."

You remember the Fanclub Clique that practically tackled Jotaro this morning, raising your eyebrows as you do. "Oh? I could get rid of them for you. Easy."

Jotaro looks like he's seriously considering this before Sho speaks from behind, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh sure, no problem. Happy to do him a favor right after he attacks you."

"You attacked him first, stupid." You sigh, annoyed at how overprotective he could be. You turn back to Jotaro. "But he's got a point. I have a few things I wanna know myself.”

As if on cue, the bell rings, signifying you have five minutes to get back to class. You groan inwardly at the bad timing, but Jotaro is already turning to leave.

"Save it for tomorrow. I’ll meet you back here again." Is all he says, leaving you and Sho to yourselves on the rooftop.

☆

Getting to sleep that night is difficult. You keep tossing and turning, replaying the day's events over and over again.

" _Tsk tsk_. I'll have the worst time waking you up tomorrow, it seems." Sho materializes at the end of your bed, leaning against the frame with arms crossed.

“Stop doing that, you look creepy in the dark.”

“Scaredy-cat,” he teases. His silver armor glistens in the moonlight with his movements. “You know, I don't really trust the guy.”

Your eyebrows furrow at this. You know he's talking about Jotaro, and you sense his seriousness despite the casual demeanor. “Oh? Why not?”

“I just get bad vibes from him. He can see me, for one thing, but then it turns out he has… a _thing_ like me, too. He calls us ‘Stands’… I have a name, you know.”

“Don't hold it against him, _Sho_. You didn't exactly start by introducing himself.”

“Whatever. Don't you remember what he said? ‘I know you work for Dio’… ‘tell me how he knows I'm here'… sounds like some Yakuza shit, if you ask me. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was, either.”

“Huh.” Is all you say. Though you usually brush off his warnings, you gotta admit he has a point this time. “Well, all the more reason to talk to him tomorrow, I guess.”

He merely shakes his head in response. “You're always too laid-back with stuff like this. What if something happens to you?”

“Chill. Nothing's gonna happen.” You hug your pillow closer, deep in thought. “Think about it, Sho… He knows what you are. And he has a ‘Stand’, too. Wouldn't you wanna know? What exactly you are, and if there are more people like you…?”

Silence. Neither of you speak as Sho processes your words.

“Never really thought about it,” he finally shrugs. “But… hm. Guess it wouldn't hurt to know.”

He jumps up suddenly and stretches. “But goddammit, get some sleep already. The less I have to do to wake you up tomorrow, the better.”

With that, he vanishes, leaving you to your thoughts. It's a long time before you manage to drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I really appreciate you giving my work a chance! Hopefully you enjoy the story so far, even though it isn't a complete one for the moment.
> 
> All the same, leave a sign you liked it if you did; I'm a full-time student with a packed schedule, but knowing there are people who would read my fic on a 2014 anime would really encourage me to keep up with the writing. :)
> 
> -MURINO


	2. An All-Expenses Paid Vacation, Part 1

"Ooh, you think he'd take my orange if I told him it’ll help him recover blood faster?"

Two female students are dawdling on your floor, even though first period's due to start soon. Her friend titters in reply. "Well, he _was_ bleeding really badly this morning. But like, I didn't expect it from him; you'd think Jojo of all people would be cooler than…"

You stop in your tracks the moment you hear his name, turning briefly to the girls, "Excuse me, did you say Jojo - I mean Jotaro - got hurt?"

The girls look at each other and giggle. "Yeah, he fell down the torii steps near school. There was like this huge cut on his leg…"

Without further thought, you turn to go to the nurse's office - Though you doubt he’s badly hurt, you might as well check in case he might not make it for your lunch meeting today.

Meanwhile, the girls follow along behind you. "Ooh, don't tell me you have a crush on him too." One says, her eyes sparkling.

You almost let out a retort at this. The last thing you’d do is to be caught _dead_ thirsting over a guy who seems allergic to female attention, but before you could say anything, her friend starts bombarding you with unwarranted Jotaro talk.

“You know, I heard he’s actually half-American! Maybe that’s why he’s so tall, and when you think about it he looks like one of those handsome American actors… Ooh, I bet his dad’s not too bad-looking either…”

"Look. Just... just go back to your classrooms." You say, exasperated but with the firm authority of a teacher.

"Okay!"

The girls turn and walk away, still giggling incessantly. You shake your head, marveling at how easily Silver Tongue works on them.

You reach the end of the hall when you narrowly avoid getting trampled by two male students rushing out of the nurse's office. One of them is clutching a bloody eye, and the sound of tussling could be heard from the room behind them.

"D-don't go in there!" One guy warns, sounding utterly terrified as he runs past you.

"What the hell?" Sho materializes by your side, katana drawn. You peek in to see a very bizarre scene; the nurse is tackling Jotaro, clearly trying to gouge his eye out with a fountain pen while foaming at the mouth like a feral dog.

Jotaro catches your eye, clearly having difficulty holding her off despite his extremely muscled physique.

He speaks through gritted teeth. "A little... help would be nice... feel free to take your time, though..."

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

Heart pounding, you notice a green snake-like creature that had slithered up the nurse's dress. What the hell was that? Was it going up her ass, or…?

"Sho-" You start to say. Yet without need for instruction, he skewers the thing by the tail with his katana. It wriggles like crazy, trying to get away as the nurse shrieks like a bat.

Thanks to your distraction, Jotaro manages to pry the pen from the nurse and push her off. She crumples to the floor, unmoving but still breathing.

Meanwhile, the snake-like parasite had disappeared.

"She went berserk all of a sudden and starting attacking," Jotaro explains grimly. "You better get out of here. There's someone trying to kill me."

"And who said you were going anywhere?"

A male student you've never seen before is sitting on the window ledge, sounding almost bored. He plays with a wooden puppet as he eyes the three of you.

"Another Stand user…?" He wonders to himself, eyeing Sho as he shields you protectively. "I wasn't told about you."

"Tell us why you're trying to kill Jotaro." You demand, willing the red-haired stranger to speak with Silver Tongue.

"Because it is Dio's will." He says simply, getting up from his seat. "Dio chose me, seeing the potential of my abilities, and planted his flesh bud in me to control them…"

"Well. Ew." You mutter involuntarily. Sho and Jotaro throw you outraged looks, but the mystery student just laughs. A Stand materializes behind him, and you take in the humanoid upper half that, not too long ago, was lodged up the nurse's ass.

"Enough chit-chat. Emerald Splash!"

Jotaro pushes you roughly out of the way as the Stand attacks, and you fall right on your tailbone, wincing, as Jotaro is bombarded with a melee of emeralds.

The enemy Stand reaches out with its many tentacles, which wrap around Jotaro in a death grip. It seems to have temporarily forgotten you, fixated intently on getting Jotaro instead.

"Let him go!" You shout as you get up, wondering if Silver Tongue even worked on non-humans. The Stand seems to respond though, as it loosens its hold on Jotaro a little. This moment of hesitation is enough for Jotaro to call out his Stand.

You recognize the purple Jotaro-esque figure from yesterday as it materializes and start punching away, hitting the enemy Stand over and over, landing explosive blows all over its form.

"Oraoraoraoraora!!!" Jotaro’s Stand shouts.

"Good _Jesus_ ," Sho says. He was knocked to the side with you when Jotaro pushed you out of the way. You know what he's thinking, since it's the same thing on your mind as you witness this massacre – Never. Get on Jotaro Kujo's bad side.

It was over as quickly as it started. Hierophant Green collapses, disappearing as its owner falls to the ground, hurt as badly as its Stand. Jotaro, meanwhile, merely readjusts his hat, mostly unscathed by comparison.

"Looks like I’m taking the day off. This guy has some explaining to do about Dio." Jotaro says, slinging the boy effortlessly over his shoulder. He looks over to you. "My grandfather wants to talk to you as well."

Sho intervenes before you get a word in. "I don't know what you did to get an assassin sent after you, but you're not dragging her-" he gestures to you with a nod- "into this mess."

"I can speak for myself, Sho." You say curtly as you turn to Jotaro. "Sure. But, as in, right now? We kinda have classes to be in."

"Good point. Let's dump the guy I just beat up here and hope he doesn't disappear before school ends. Yes, right now." He scowls.

"Alright, sheesh. Let's go then." you say. Sho glowers at you in stark disapproval, to which you stare back in challenge. You just got mixed up in a murder attempt by _another_ Stand user, and Sho expects you to walk your ass to class?

Just then, the door to the nurse’s office bursts open, and the vice principal rushes into the room with the male students that had warned you not to enter. He shouts in alarm at the scene that greets him; the nurse, her blouse somehow half-way undone, is passed out on the floor. The office is a mess, and a passed-out student is slung over Jotaro Kujo’s shoulder, bleeding profusely.

“What in the world?!” the vice principal turns to you, steam practically pouring from his red ears. “You over there! What the hell happened here?”

“Leave this to me,” you mutter to Jotaro. “We’ll be waltzing out of here in no time.”

☆

Getting out of school was child’s play. Using Silver Tongue, you convince the vice principal that the nurse had ‘merely collapsed from overworking’, and the student with the injured eye that he’d just ‘stabbed himself on accident’. Embarrassed by his overreaction, the vice principal agrees quite quickly to let you and Jotaro take the day off.

"Not bad," Jotaro says, though he’s clearly impressed.

You can't help but laugh, thrilled at using your powers for such a purpose. “I gotta admit, I got a real kick from using my powers like that.”

“Don’t you use them all the time?”

“No - well I would, but Sho nags me and keeps me in check, so I don't use them for messing around. Much.”

"You're getting yourself involved in dangerous shit." Sho mutters with ironically perfect timing. He floats behind the two of you as you walk, having been sulking ever since you agreed to accompany Jotaro.

“Your Stand’s a real piece of work,” Jotaro says. You flinch internally at the deadpan statement, affronted even though you’d said the same thing thousands of times. Nobody insults Sho but you.

“Well, I wouldn’t be able to shut him up even if I wanted to.” You reply jokingly, attempting to bring humor into the situation.

Jotaro just gives a ‘hmph’ at this. After a while, he adds on, as if contemplating. “Although… A Stand that thinks on its own… Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before.”

“Aren't ‘Stands’ supposed to be like that?” You ask curiously. Jotaro shakes his head.

"No. My Stand used to bring me things on its own, when I discovered I had one a few days ago. But the more I got used to it, the less it did that sort of thing. I don't think it thinks by itself. In any case, it certainly doesn't talk like yours."

“My name,” Sho clips in from the back, “Is Shogun Silver.”

“Right. Real pleasure to meet you,” Jotaro says dryly. “My Stand has a name too. Star Platinum.”

You learn that the redhead on Jotaro's shoulder is Noriaki Kakyoin, an exchange student who just transferred in today. From the handkerchief Jotaro hands you, it's clear that he's out for Jotaro's blood.

“Why, though?” you ask, contemplating the elegant calligraphy on the handkerchief. “Why does he want you dead?”

Your question is only answered with a dark look from Jotaro, who stays silent in response.

"You know it's shady when he can't even tell you," Sho sneers. You pretend not to hear, though you can almost feel the malice radiating from him in waves from behind.

"It's dangerous." Is all Jotaro says. "I don't want to put you in more unnecessary danger, that’s all.”

“What a gentleman.” Sho growls, "Isn't that _so_ thoughtful of him? Putting you in an assassin's way like it has _anything_ to do with you, then keeping you in the dark about what he’s dragged you into-"

But Sho disappears before he even finishes his sentence. You bite your lip, feeling a little guilty - this is the first time you'd ever forced him to dematerialize, and the regret is instantaneous.

"Good grief." Jotaro touches his hat, re-adjusting it for the umpteenth time that day.

“Don't get it confused.” you say fiercely. “I'm going with you because I chose to, not because you or anyone else dragged me into it.”

Jotaro raises an eyebrow, but only replies with, “Glad we're on the same page.”

☆

Jotaro's house is _gigantic_ , the plot it’s occupying big enough to house a shrine. You give a low whistle at the traditional Japanese architecture, taking it all in when you see a blond woman approach the three of you.

"Jotaro! Why aren't you in-"

She screams as she fixates on the unconscious Kakyoin. Jotaro merely ignores her, saying something about 'needing to talk to the old man' before brushing past.

"Your grandfather's with Avdol right now," the woman calls after Jotaro, who doesn't even glance back in return.

She turns to you. Her gaze makes you feel like you're a mannequin at a store, making you more than a little self-conscious.

"Oh my, aren't you a cute girl!" She exclaims. "You don't happen to be my son's girlfriend, do you?"

Son?! This woman is Jotaro's mother, and he treats her like that?? You're so surprised that the girlfriend comment fails to embarrass you.

"I'm just a schoolmate, actually." You manage, giving a sincere bow. "Sorry for the trouble, Mrs. Kujo." Though you're not sure if you're apologizing for Jotaro's behavior or your rude entrance with him. Maybe both.

"Oh, how polite! I wouldn't mind if you started dating my Jotaro!" The woman laughs half-jokingly. “And you can call me Holly. I'm Jotaro's mother.”

She shoos you away at this, motioning you to go follow after her son. You nod and turn away quickly, not wanting her to see the blush creeping up your cheeks.

☆

You find Jotaro in a tearoom (of course they'd have a tearoom), listening intently to a white-haired man who looks a little like him. To the side, a dark-skinned man in foreign robes bends over Kakyoin, examining him closely.

“Ah, you must be the Stand user Jotaro mentioned.” the old man says he spots you. You nod, taking his hand as he holds it out for a handshake. “I'm Joseph Joestar, Jotaro's grandfather. I believe we have much to discuss.”

"This doesn't look good," the man in robes says. You assume this is the man Holly had called Avdol. “There's a flesh bud planted on his forehead - in a few days he's as good as dead.”

Joseph curses while Jotaro tilts his head in indifference.

“We'll have to remove it, then.” He simply states.

“Oh God, are you crazy?” Joseph exclaims before going on a rant on how risky it is. Jotaro sighs, letting the old man blow off steam before continuing.

“He's not dead yet. He either dies in Dio's hands or he dies being saved by us.” Without a further word, Jotaro leans down over Kakyoin, Avdol standing aside to give him space. He grips the sides of Kakyoin's head as Star Platinum materializes behind him.

As if on cue, Kakyoin's eyes open, responding to the sensation of hands on his cheeks.

"You might want to keep still. If I mess this up your brain's fried." Jotaro says. Kakyoin eyes Star Platinum's giant hand as it getting closer to the flesh bud, a bewildered look slowly crossing his features.

"Stop that." Jotaro grits his teeth as Kakyoin suddenly starts thrashing around. The redhead groans as he frantically tries to free himself from Jotaro's grip.

“The flesh bud knows you're trying to remove it.” Avdol says darkly. “It will try to avoid that at all costs, even if it means damaging its host's brain permanently.”

This doesn’t faze Jotaro, who continues his attempt to hold Kakyoin still. As you look on, you get the feeling his efforts are futile – Kakyoin, no doubt spurred on by the flesh bud, is straining himself in efforts to keep moving, even though it’s clearly putting him in great pain.

It's unexplainable, but before you know it you've rushed forward, leaning over Kakyoin opposite of Jotaro.

"Let me," You order, motioning for him to move. He complies, letting you take hold of Kakyoin's face instead.

"Shogun Silver." Sho appears without delay, his katana drawn and ready. You lean down so Kakyoin can see your face.

"I need you to stay still.” You say as gently as you can. “We're going to help you, okay? Believe me."

Kakyoin looks up at you, pain visible in his eyes. He slowly stops resisting your grip, though he's still convulsing pretty badly.

"Good. You're doing so good," you murmur, trying to be as reassuring as you can. You rub small circles on him temples to focus his attention. "Just focus on me now..."

He doesn't even notice when Sho stabs him through the heart.

You hear a gasp from Mr. Joestar that you barely register; all your attention and willpower is focused on Kakyoin at the moment.

"Now listen, Kakyoin. I need you relax yourself for me. Like your life depends on it."

You see Sho's blade glow as you speak. Kakyoin's convulsions temper down into slight twitching.

“You'll be fine… Just stay completely still. You can do it."

The blade glows even brighter. By some miracle, Kakyoin has stopped moving completely, his eyes entirely focused on you.

You nod at Jotaro without breaking eye contact with Kakyoin. At his call, Star Platinum swoops in, carefully pinching the flesh bud and pulling slowly, its tentacles slowly being exposed to open air.

Everything seems like it's going well when one of them latches onto your skin. Faster than you can even say, it pierces your flesh, finding a vein and burrowing into it. You might've screamed if you weren't so focused on keeping Kakyoin in place.

This time both Avdol and Mr. Joestar start forward, but thankfully Jotaro holds them back - if you stop now, it will only hurt both you and the boy you're trying to save.

“Just a little more... Stay still…” You repeat, feeling the tentacle burrow up your arm. By now you're gritting your teeth, forcing yourself to focus on Kakyoin's eyes. You notice how they have a slightly purple tint, and you try to fixate on the unique shade, ignoring the highly uncomfortable feeling of the tentacle crawling into your shoulder… then up your neck…

 _Jotaro… hurry,_ you find yourself pleading silently. Tears start to well up in your eyes from how you don't even dare to blink, in your effort not to make a single movement.

The flesh bud detaches from Kakyoin completely, its tentacles pulling out of the hole in his forehead and out your arm with visceral pops. Star Platinum throws it to the wall, where it's crushed by barbed purple vines that shoot from Mr. Joestar's hand.

You sigh in relief, feeling like a surgeon who’d just finished a successful operation. Sho retracts his katana from Kakyoin, having done his job. Meanwhile, you rub the hole where the flesh bud had pierced you, a little disturbed at how… bloodless? the wound is.

Kakyoin sits up, injured and hurt but otherwise alive. He meets your eyes, turning a little red before looking away quickly. "Why would you do that?" He asks, a little angrily. "Why did you risk your life to save me? Even though I…?"

“Just taking Jotaro's lead." You say, avoiding the burden of answering. You look to Jotaro in turn.

He just shrugs and sits down, looking out into the garden.

"Don't ask me." He says. "I wasn't the one busting my ass to save him."

☆

“I gotta admit, you got guts.” Jotaro says, watching you sip on your green tea.

“That was terrifying though, not gonna lie.” You respond, swirling your cup. “Guess you could say it really made my skin crawl.”

It takes Jotaro a while before he catches onto your pun, which earns a tremendous eye roll from him.

“Good grief, was that whole thing a setup for that line? Makes me regret being worried for a second there…”

You grin. “Not a fan of puns, huh?”

“That was a dangerous thing you just did, though.” Sho says in a faintly admonishing tone. He hasn't left your side since you summoned him, and it’s clear that he's concerned as hell about you, judging from how he keeps glancing at the hole in your hand, now disinfected and bandaged.

Not that you think that's enough - you make a note to go for a blood check ASAP.

"I really should thank you. You've been a great help to us." Mr. Joestar’s voice sounds from the doorway. – He’s returned with Avdol after helping Kakyoin settle in a guest room to rest.

You nod in response, not quite sure what else to say. After a brief round of introductions, Mr. Joestar gets right to the point.

"Jotaro told me your Stand has the ability to control minds."

“I wouldn't say it like that,” you explain delicately. “I can make people think, feel, and act certain ways, as long as I can impose my will over theirs. Not like that flesh bud - That thing’s a parasite. It seems to take complete control of its host, however temporary… It’s totally different from my abilities. Once a person has a change of heart, there are no take-backs.”

You pause, contemplating. “Besides, I've never used my powers to hurt or exploit anyone.”

“Of course.” Avdol nods. “It's clear after today you wouldn't do something like that.”

“Does that mean you suspected me of working for Dio?” you ask, eyebrows raised.

The men look at each other in alarm. Sho takes advantage of this moment to explain for you. “That was the first thing your grandson said when he discovered me. He accused us of working for Dio, then threatened to hurt her-" he nods to you at this-"if she didn't own up."

Mr. Joestar glares at Jotaro, who grumbles something about just being careful. You could practically feel the waves of smugness coming from Sho.

“Anyway.” You press on. “Who exactly is this Dio? And what business does he have with Jotaro?"

Mr. Joestar gives a long pause, looking to Avdol at your prompt. It seemed for a while as if he wouldn’t answer your question, but he rubs his chin thoughtfully and starts talking.

“This is dangerous business, young lady. But… I guess you have the right to know a little, since you’ve already gotten more involved than I’d like...”

For the next half hour, he launches into a story about the Joestar bloodline, and a vampire that has woken up after centuries of slumber, now hell-bent on hunting them down.

“I see,” you say, furrowing your brow. “So vampires exist… apparently. This one won't stop until your entire family is dead, which he plans to achieve by sending Stand users after you.”

“I myself was nearly one of those Stand users.” Avdol says grimly.

Mr. Joestar nods. He doesn’t seem to want to continue further on the subject, though, so he slips you a paper with the Kujo household's landline.

“I was going to give you this anyway, but seeing how much of a help you’ve been, consider it a personal favor.” he says as you take the note. “If you ever find yourself in trouble, call us, and we'll be there to help you."

“Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.” You nod gratefully.

“It'd help if you report on spotting other Stand users too, though you won't have to fight them on our behalf next time.” Mr. Joestar winks.

You can’t help but smile at the quip, feeling yourself warming up to the charismatic old man.

There’s no way he’s related to Jotaro.


	3. An All-Expenses Paid Vacation, Part 2

Lunch with the Kujos is surprisingly pleasant; Holly is an excellent cook, and she entertains everyone with stories of misunderstandings she had with the locals just as she was starting out with Japanese. You watch in amusement as she lavishes affection onto Mr. Joestar and Jotaro, though the latter often responds with gruff dismissal. As the Kujo family sinks into discussions about family matters, you turn to Avdol and question him about Stands, a topic he’s clearly highly knowledgeable about.

“So I was born from your soul, huh?” Sho says in wonder, floating next to you as you walk down your street. You know just what he's thinking about, and you could almost hear Avdol's explanation echo in his head over and over again…

_“A Stand is a manifestation of one's life energy. It gives a person great power that helps them navigate life's difficulties."_

“I wasn't surprised,” you reply to Sho's musings. “I guess deep down we kinda knew all along, huh?”

“Yeah,” Sho says. “But I wonder why I can think for myself, when Mr. Joestar's stand is just a bunch of vines.”

“Clairvoyant vines.” You correct. “And he calls them Hermit Purple.”

Sho just hums absentmindedly in response as you unlatch the gate to your house. You’d decided to just call it a day after lunch, figuring you’d try again with school tomorrow.

You take out your keys to open your front door, only to realize it was left unlocked.

“Grandma? I'm home!” you call, taking off your shoes. She can be really careless sometimes – you swear one of these days you'll manage to get robbed in a neighborhood with almost zero crime.

“Grandma?”

No response. The house is deathly silent, which makes you wonder if she decided to go out. Nevertheless, you diligently trail through the rooms, just in case she merely fell asleep somewhere.

In any case, you hear the kettle boiling in the kitchen, so you go to turn it off.

“Weird…” You muse as you turn the dial. “Maybe she's losing her marbles already, huh Sho?”

_Shwing._

You turn abruptly to see Sho holding his katana, the blade pressed against a knife that otherwise would've gotten you through the back. You peek over Sho's shoulder to see-

“Grandma!” You gasp, seeing the familiar face of your attacker. Her usually kindly features are arranged into a blank stare as tries to press the knife into you, though she clearly can't see Sho blocking her off.

You step away from her in shock, and she follows after you like a zombie, knife held in her wrinkled hands. She tries again and again to land a hit on you, only to be countered by Sho each time.

“Grandma, why…?” As much as you try to, you can't wrap your head around the situation. You start to feel light-headed, unable to think clearly at all.

“Look at her forehead.” Sho says darkly, reflecting yet another attack. You notice what you should've seen much earlier, completely unobscured on your beloved grandmother's hairline.

A flesh bud.

Your eyes widen as you realize too many things at once. Why the door was left open, why your grandmother was suddenly trying to kill you, and who could possibly be making her do something so heinous…

“Sho, c-can you knock her out for me? As gently as you can, please…”

He nods, striking her in the neck with his elbow. Your grandma crumples to the ground, allowing Sho to catch her gently as the knife clatters onto the floor.

Two minutes later, you've left your grandma in the living room under Sho's watchful eye. You’re in the kitchen, shakily dialing the number on the paper from Mr. Joestar. The receiver digs into your ear as you will someone, _anyone_ , to just pick up on the other end already.

“Hello, Kujo residence! Holly speaking.” A cheerful voice finally sounds in your ear.

“H-hey, Mrs. Kujo. It's me,” You say, trying not to sound like you're about to cry. “Please, could you get Jotaro on the line?”

☆

“Whoever it was sure moved fast,” Jotaro was saying, but you don't really hear him as you cradle your grandma's wrinkled hand in yours. The hand that, twenty minutes ago, was just trying to kill you.

You vaguely hear Mr. Joestar on the kitchen phone, requesting transportation and something about intel. Avdol had stayed back at the Kujo residence to watch over Kakyoin and Holly, and Sho, meanwhile, hovers around you watchfully, unable to do much else for the moment.

“Thanks again, Jotaro…” You say faintly. He merely shakes his head.

“Least I can do.”

Jotaro and Joseph had arrived in record time, and Jotaro had insisted on removing the flesh bud by himself, practically ordering you to sit as Mr. Joestar, much to your embarrassment, makes you a hot drink in your own home.

Joseph Joestar finally returns from the kitchen, flashing you a beaming smile. “Alright. I've arranged for some of the Foundation's doctors to take your gran in. Don't worry, they're top notch! They'll make sure she's in tip-top shape again in no time.”

You nod gratefully at him, and he continues on a more serious note. “Meanwhile, I think you should stay with us for the time being. I'm sorry to say this, but I can only conclude that Dio seems to think you're on our side. Hence, the safest place for you right now is with us fellow Stand users.”

“And my grandma?” You ask.

A soft smile crosses Mr. Joestar's features. “She'll be away at our medical facilities. You'll be separated for a while, but she'll be safe, as long as she's away from here.”

You glance at your grandma's sleeping face, thinking it over.

“Yeah. Alright.” You say after a while. “Thank you so much, Mr. Joestar.”

“Please, call me Joseph.” Mr. Joestar says warmly, letting out a booming laugh that manages to lighten the heavy mood. “Now get anything you'll need ready; we'll be taking off once your gran is with our doctors.”

Jotaro leans in towards you when Mr. Joestar leaves to wait by the gate. “The only other person who calls him Joseph is my grandma, you know.”

“Don't worry, I'm sticking to Mr. Joestar.” You say tiredly. “Calling him Joseph would be too weird.”

When you stand, however, mild fatigue gives way to the anger that had been simmering away in you for quite a while now. You grimace as you look at your grandma’s sleeping form, feeling rage boil over despite all good sense.

“What I don't understand… is why he'd stoop this low to get her involved… She's got a bad heart, and to make her try to kill me… then force me to hurt her…”

Silence. Neither Sho nor Jotaro respond.

“Sho.” You say, snapping even though you don't mean to. “Change of Heart.”

Without a word, Sho takes his katana and stabs it through your grandma's heart. You scowl at the sight, hating how many times you've had to go through this ritual lately.

“Don't worry about me.” You say softly, smoothing your beloved gran’s thinning hair. “I'll be away for a while, but just know that… that I'll be safe. Focus on getting better, and I'll be back before you know it.”

Sho waits for the katana to stop glowing before extracting it carefully. Without another word, you leave the room to get some clothes, wiping angry tears from your face as you do so.

You don't know for how long, but you have the feeling you won't be back home for a while.

☆

“Wake up…”

Sho is nudging you awake, a little – no, a lot – more gently than usual. You open your eyes to find yourself in a comfortable but unfamiliar futon. The overnight bag dumped to one side catches your absent gaze, and suddenly yesterday’s events come rushing back to you.

That’s right – you’re rooming with the Kujos for a while, after that poor attempt on your life using your grandma. You grit your teeth at how helpless you’d felt yesterday, feeling guilty for how much Mr. Joestar had helped you. Though you really should be grateful, not ashamed…

You push this trail of thought aside, packing away the futon and changing into yesterday’s uniform, if only to go through the motions. Were you really going to school today, after everything that had happened?

Out of nowhere, you hear thumps and loud voices outside, and you run out of your room quickly, Sho hot on your trail. Had someone been attacked?

The commotion seems to be coming from the kitchen, and you rush in to see Mr. Joestar talking grimly with Jotaro by the doorway while Avdol cradles an unconscious Holly. The distress in the room is imminent; Mr. Joestar shakes with rage as Jotaro bites his lip, glowering.

Avdol is the first one to notice you, and you lock eyes with him questioningly, as if in a silent request for an explanation.

“I found Mrs. Kujo passed out this morning. Our worst fears have come true… Dio’s return has caused a Stand to awaken in her.”

Now that he mentions it, you see thorny tendrils rustling faintly under Holly – tendrils not unlike Mr. Joestar’s Hermit Purple.

“She doesn’t look so good.” You observe, rather shrewdly. You catch an angry scowl from Jotaro, who snarls, “No shit.”

“Not everyone has the strength to control a Stand,” Avdol explains patiently for you. “Mrs. Kujo, for one, is crippled by her own Stand’s power… When this happens, a person could be killed in as little as 50 days, their life energy drained away by their own Stand.”

Your eyes widen as you realize the magnitude of the situation. You’d managed to avoid casualties so far, even with the murder attempts Dio had sent the Joestar’s way, and yours… but if sweet Mrs. Kujo, of all people, were to die…

“We're backed into a corner.” Mr Joestar says with grim finality. “We must find Dio ourselves – kill him, and the curse on my little girl will be lifted.”

Even Jotaro is taken aback by the sudden declaration, but nobody else dared challenge Mr. Joestar otherwise.

☆

“I’ve tried everything I could think of,” you say. “No matter what, Change of Heart won’t give Mrs. Kujo the ability to control her Stand.”

Mr. Joestar kneels beside Holly, who’s tucked into her futon. Sho removes his katana from her chest - This was the first time his abilities had failed to work.

“It was worth trying,” Mr. Joestar sighs, stroking his daughter’s hair. Across the room, Jotaro is poring over some pictures produced by Hermit Purple. He’d been whispering with Avdol, who’d left the room abruptly to fetch something.

It went without saying that neither you nor Jotaro would be going to school today. Mrs. Kujo had woken up briefly as she was settled in her room. Despite joking about getting sick more often if it meant being treated so nicely all the time, you could tell she was just putting on a brave face. Jotaro had barked at her to stay down and rest, but it was clear he really cared for her despite the harsh treatment.

Avdol comes back into the room, a book on entomology in his hands. “Everyone, I think I found something.”

All of you gather around the book, which is opened to a page on the genus _Glossina_. Avdol starts explaining:

“Jotaro found something very interesting while looking through the pictures of Dio. This fly- “He points to one variety in particular- “is the _exact_ species as the one found in one of the photographs. The Aswan Tsetse Fly. Or, more specifically, an insect commonly found in Aswan, Egypt.”

“So he’s made his base there, huh?”

Everyone turns to see Kakyoin leaning on the doorway. His forehead is bandaged, but from the looks of it, he seems to have recovered a great deal overnight.

“I was travelling the Nile with my parents over the summer. That’s when I met him, so it’s no surprise that he should still be there.” He explains. The determination on his face is unmistakable “I know you’re going to Egypt to take Dio out. And I’ll go with you.”

...

“So will I.” You say. Avdol and Mr. Joestar look back and forth between the two of you in surprise. Sho, for all his usual admonishments, says nothing, staying silent with his arms crossed in the background.

“And why? This isn’t your fight.” Jotaro says, his raised eyebrows indicating he didn't expect this either. Kakyoin shakes his head in response.

“If it weren’t for your help, there’s no telling what that flesh bud would’ve done to me… I’m in your debts.” He says, glancing around at everyone in the room, though his eyes stop on you in particular.

“Same goes for me,” you add, addressing Mr. Joestar and Jotaro specifically. If there's anyone who could understand Kakyoin's reasons for volunteering, it was you.

“Mr. Joestar, you’re taking care of my grandmother, and now me… It goes without saying, but I’ll help you save Mrs. Kujo to the best of my abilities.”

“That’s a serious commitment to make.” Mr. Joestar chides, looking like an actual stern grandfather for once. “You’re both still underage, and there’s no telling what will happen on the trip.”

“We’re both Stand users.” Kakyoin reasons. “If Dio’s controlling other people like us the same way he did with me, you’ll need as many people with our abilities on your side as possible.”

“Right,” you add. “He got Kakyoin, and my grandmother, too - As far as we’re concerned, we have a score to settle with Dio as well.”

Mr. Joestar sighs, but is at a loss for any further arguments. You nod at Kakyoin, who secretly shoots you a tiny smile, before looking around at the men that you barely knew existed until yesterday.

The solidarity among everyone in the room is as clear as day.

For your grandma, and for Mrs. Kujo - Dio better start counting his days.


	4. The Shogun Conquers The Tower

_“Go on, spill it. I know what you’re thinking. Just tell me how I was too gung-ho for my own good already.”_

_“Actually, I think you did the right thing.”_

_"Eh?” You freeze midway through your rushed packing. This comes as a complete surprise – since when did Sho ever agree with the rash and risky things you do?_

_"Don’t give me that face,” He says irritably, floating as usual in mid-air. “Look, I know I was vicious as hell towards Jotaro the other day. I mean, look at what_ not _listening to me got us into-“_

_"Just get to the point.”_

_Sho sighs huffily, relenting. “But you did good. Saving Kakyoin. Helping Mrs. Kujo. I’m proud of you.”_

_“Oh, Sho.” You smile widely. You pull him in for a hug, but not a very comfortable one, since his armor feels clunky against your skin. He lets you embrace him for a good half -second before pushing you off._

_"Yeah, yeah.” He says. “That’s what I’m trying to convince myself, anyway. We can’t exactly back out now, thanks to your big mouth.”_

_"Ooh, way to ruin the moment,” you say, still grinning nonetheless._

_"I mean it though.” Sho says, gazing out into the Kujo’s large courtyard with crossed arms. “I’ll help you help your new ‘friends’, but no matter what…”_

_He turns to you, voice hard and determined._

_“… My top priority will always be protecting you.”_

_You’re at loss to how to respond to such a chivalrous declaration, but in that moment, you knew you could depend on Sho till the very end._

☆

“Holy. Fucking. SHIIIIT. We’re _Flying_ ,” Sho’s pressing his face so close to the window it would seem like he’s trying to escape the plane through it.

His knees dig into your thighs, causing you to hiss with pain. Economy seats are cramped as they are, but with Sho squeezing into your space you could feel yourself merging into the plane seat, compressed as you are at the moment. He doesn’t seem to notice though, and you practically feel his eyes widen underneath that visor as he ogles at the clouds outside.

What a kid. You make a note to avoid taking the window seat on the return flight.

Mr. Joestar had booked the first flight leaving Japan for Egypt, meaning all of you only had enough time to pack carry-ons. Since having settled in his plane seat two hours ago, he’d been snoozing next to Jotaro on the aisle opposite. Single-handedly managing the logistics part of the expedition clearly took a lot out of the old man.

Meanwhile, Kakyoin watches to your left as you tussle with Sho for space, clearly quite amused. The snicker is wiped fast from his face though, when Sho accidentally elbows him as he floats off to look around the plane.

“Sorry,” you say quickly, feeling pretty embarrassed. “Sho’s never been on a plane before.”

“No telling,” Kakyoin laughs, watching Sho flit from window to window above the oblivious passengers. “He’s quite an interesting Stand - It’s like he’s a whole other person on his own.”

“I pretty much think of him like that,” you say, crossing your arms. “Besides, I’m definitely not as childish.” This earns another laugh from him, which makes you smile – you get the feeling the both of you will get along just fine.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you personally for a while, but… thank you.” Kakyoin says, suddenly all sincere. “For getting that flesh bud off me the other day.”

“It’s really nothing,” You say, but he shakes his head insistently.

“Seriously, you risked your life to save me. I saw it wriggling under your skin, when you were calming me down back there… It got all the way to your neck too, before Jotaro pulled it off.”

You shudder at the memory. “ _Eugh_. Bet it looked gross.”

“You bet it did.” Kakyoin confirms. You both laugh again, even though it isn’t really that funny.

He puts his hand on the armrest, his shoulder brushing yours as a result. You look at him quizzically when he jolts as if electrocuted by the contact.

“Sorry! I should probably give you this one, since you’re by the window -“

“It’s fine, Kakyoin.” God, this _boy_. He’s all flustered for nothing, but honestly? You think it’s kinda sweet.

From your peripherals, you see Mr. Joestar waken with a start. He looks rather pale, the look in his eyes one of fear and realization. Two syllables form on his lips – silent, but crystal clear.

That’s when it hits you – literally.

☆

You faintly hear Kakyoin calling your name as your vision explodes into stars - It feels like someone had just tried to stick a blunt poker through the back of your neck. You clutch at the area, hunched over in pain so unbearable it overpowers all your senses.

It’s a long while before the sensation subsides into horrible throbbing. As you slowly come to, you realize that your companions have all stood up from their seats - Kakyoin, in particular, is shielding you with a free arm. You follow their gaze, looking up to see what they’re staring at.

A huge stag beetle is dancing around in front of you. Instinct tells you at once this isn’t an ordinary insect – its pincers click madly as it hones in on your group, almost as if it's laughing.

Not that beetles could laugh; not normal ones anyway. At any rate, the bug confirms its peculiarity, when the buzzing of it wings somehow make the sound of a human voice:

_“Eeheehee!! Missed again! Lord Dio is getting impatient…”_

“Allow me,” Jotaro says, his eyes narrowed at the beetle.

Star Platinum comes into being at lightning speed, wasting no time punching away at the beetle. Even in the blur of punches and ‘oras!’, you see the beetle weaving through the Stand’s fists effortlessly, laughing all the while. It even seemed to be enjoying itself.

_"What’s the matter?? Not fast enough to catch me?”_

“Impossible!” Mr. Joestar cries. “A Stand fast enough to outpace Jotaro’s Star Platinum…!”

“Excuse me, sirs!” a curt but professional voice interrupts out of nowhere, “You’re disturbing the other passengers. If you’ll be so kind as to take your seats again…”

A flight attendant approaches you all mid-fight, completely oblivious to the beetle. Your eyes snap to the other passengers, who are staring at your companions with assorted looks of bewilderment and confusion.

Of course, you realize. They can’t see the beetle, given that it’s obviously a Stand. To the ordinary person, Jotaro and the others must look nothing short of cuckoo.

Avdol though, isn’t flustered by the unwanted attention. Instead, his eyes widen as the stewardess comes closer, being the first to sense the danger of the situation. “Ma’am, don’t come any closer!”

_“Eeheehee!! Want to protect these innocent simpletons, hm? Then, Muhammad Avdol… watch, and weep!”_

The beetle jets off with the deadly speed of a bullet, and before your very eyes, it pierces through the skulls of four passengers in one swoop. Blood spurts from their mouths as the beetle writes on the wall using their ripped-off tongues.

Its bloody message spells out as the dead passengers slump in their seats, falling like a slow, horrible game of dominoes.

MASSACRE!

The plane erupts in total panic - Passengers stand and start screaming, trying to escape despite being trapped in an enclosed space thousands of meters in the air. Amongst it all, you stay rooted where you stand, utterly fixated on the bloody mess in front of you.

It’s nothing short of horrifying, but you can’t tear your eyes away at all.

Jotaro’s angry voice pierces through the chaos, pulling you from your mini-trance. You manage to glimpse his face amongst the herd of terrified passengers – he’s looking at you expectantly, with this fierce sense of urgency… in a heartbeat, you understand exactly what he’s telling you to do.

You need to calm this plane down.

“Sho!” you call. He appears under you, scooping you up in his arms without you even needing to speak. In seconds, you’re at the front of the passenger area, Sho having flown you over everyone else. You grab the receiver attached to the wall, pressing down on the button and holding it close to your mouth. Summoning as much willpower as you can, you shout to the rampaging crowd:

“Everyone! Please! Calm down!”

None of the passengers seem to even hear you, and the handful that turn to you as you say that barely seem to care. You grit your teeth – how is Silver Tongue supposed to work on a planeful of panicked people? You consider using Change of Heart, but quickly dismiss the idea. It’s more potent for sure, but it only works on one person at a time. Heck, Sho would have a hell of a time getting a single passenger still enough to impale them…

You grit your teeth, having no choice but to continue trying.

“Please, sit down! You’re only putting yourselves in more danger if you panic-“

A man directs a shout your way, interrupting you. “I know you! You’re the girl travelling with those terrorists!”

…Terrorists?

Did he mean Jotaro and the others? What nerve, he’s got it all wrong…!

You open your mouth to protest when a little girl near you starts bawling, backing away from you in fear. She clutches at the woman next to her. “Mommy! I-I don’t wanna die…”

You can feel the fear of the crowd turning into outrage as more eyes turn to you. You glance at Sho helplessly, but even he, who always got you out of a pinch when you needed him to, can’t offer you any solutions. Sho was only one Stand, after all, and if your voice can’t temper the throng of scared people turning against you, then neither can his katana…

“Fine!” You shout angrily into the receiver. Your voice reverberates throughout the plane with its sheer volume. “It was me! I killed those men, and if you value your lives, you better listen to every word I say!”

Your outburst is met with a fresh torrent of shouts and screams. You feel the crowd’s emotions coursing through you, their anger turned to terror once again in the blink of an eye. You can almost taste the desperation, the mortal fear for their lives…

This was emotion focused on you. Emotion you can mould as easily as fresh playdough.

“Shut the fuck up. All of you.”

As if orchestrated by one giant hand, the passengers dropped to the floor like abandoned puppets. Nearly all of them, that is - save for your fellow Stand Users and an unassuming old man by the back.

That heinous stag beetle of a Stand is perched on his shoulder.

“Found you.” You say. Your entire being feels drained, but it doesn’t stop the self-satisfaction from creeping into your voice.

The man lets out a wheezing laugh, the beetle Stand’s pincers clicking in time with it.

“Ohoho! So you finally reveal your Stand’s power! And not a bad ability, I must say…”

He flashes you a twisted smile. “Lord Dio should be pleased to find out at last.”

“You…” You start towards this sick old man, but you shake so badly that you don’t even manage a single step. Luckily, Sho is there to catch you, as always. The last thing you see before you black out is your companions surrounding the Stand user, all of their own Stands summoned.

☆

The heat is unbearable.

You’re woken up by the sun’s rays beating down mercilessly on you. Slowly coming to, you realize from the rocking of the floor that you’re not quite on a plane anymore.

“Ah, she’s awake.” You hear someone say.

You sit up, trying to look around and instantly regretting it when a wave of nausea overcomes you. Sho materializes the moment it does, directing you to the edge of the lifeboat as you start heaving. You realize the eyes of passengers in adjacent lifeboats burning into you mid-retch. Clenching your mouth shut, you force yourself to keep it in, still feeling very much sick.

“You’ll feel better if you let it out,” Sho says quietly, rubbing your back.

“No, I’m… I’m good.” You say, even though it’s a lie.

Sitting back down, you realize that every single one of your cohorts are sitting silently on the inflatable raft. You look at the other lifeboats floating around as you wait for one of them to speak. When no one does, you decide to ask the first question.

“What happened?”

“We took the Stand user out after you fainted.” Kakyoin says. He was sitting closest to you out of everyone. “It’s safe to say that he’s not gonna be a problem anymore.”

“That Stand user turned out to be the Tower of Gray,” Avdol adds. “I recognize him from my sources – a mass murderer responsible for countless train-wrecks and plane crashes, killing hundreds of people each time and making it look like an accident.”

His face darkens as he continues. “Though… I can’t understand what would drive someone to lead a life like that. When we examined his body, he didn’t have a flesh bud on him – meaning he was pursuing us for Dio of his own free will.”

You involuntarily shudder as your mind flits back to the casualties on the plane, remembering the spurts of blood as you saw tongues ripped out just meters in front of you.

“Did… did anyone else die? After…”

“Thankfully not,” Mr. Joestar says. “We checked the other passengers after I landed the plane. They’re all pretty disoriented – a good lot of them are probably traumatized, too – but no deaths other than those four unfortunate souls.”

“Wait,” you do a double-take as you take in the aircraft rocking on the waves nearby. “Mr. Joestar, you _landed_ that plane?”

He nods, but doesn’t say anything else. Jotaro takes this moment to finally talk.

“Luckily the old man knows how to land one. Well. Kind of.” He says, adjusting his hat to shield his eyes from the sun. “We didn’t have a choice. You knocked out every non-Stand user on the plane, including the pilots.”

Your eyes widen at this piece of information, feeling a fresh wave of sickness overcome you.

“Shit, I… I didn’t mean to. I only meant to calm them down…“

“No worries,” Mr. Joestar says, giving you a reassuring smile, though it almost comes off as a grimace given the events that just unfolded. “If it weren’t for you, I don’t think we could’ve identified the Stand user so quickly. More people could’ve died if we’d taken a little longer.”

 _People could’ve died if the plane crashed because of me,_ you think to yourself, but you bite this comment back. Self-pity wasn’t a good look on you right now.

Sho seemed to be feeling the same thing you do. He speaks up from next to you, guilt heavy in his voice. “It was my fault. I was wandering around, not realizing other Stand users could be on the plane and see me. That bug attacked me first – if it weren’t for my helmet, I’m sure you would’ve… would’ve…”

You touch the back of your neck, wincing as your fingers made contact. So that explains it – there’s definitely gonna be a nasty bruise there later.

Nobody says anything in response to this. Sho looks like he’s about to collapse into himself from the guilt, so you grasp his gauntlet-clad arm in reassurance, smiling warmly.

“It’s okay, Sho. I’m okay. We’ll be more careful next time.”

The sound of helicopters roaring in the distance interrupts the tense atmosphere. People in the nearby lifeboats start to stand and wave as ropes unravel from the cockpits - a rescue team had arrived for the stranded passengers.

“Finally,” Mr. Joestar says, shading his face with his hat as he looks up at the helicopters. He turns to the group. “We’re currently 35 kilometres from the coast of Hong Kong. The local police will help us get to shore, so we might as well take a little break while we’re there.”

His brow scrunches up thoughtfully. “It’s too risky to fly anymore – I don’t want other casualties as a result of pursuing Dio, so I’ll be rethinking how we’ll get to Egypt at the same time.”

Everyone nods at the game plan, except Sho, who bows his head to the life raft’s surface in a kowtow.

You see the eyebrows raised among your group at this gesture – Hell, you know Sho like you know yourself, and even you’re surprised.

“My carelessness put our group in danger on that flight. I want to make up for my mistakes… Mr. Joestar, please know you can still rely on me.” He sits back up, determination imminent in his voice. “This is the last time I will let myself be so negligent. That is a promise.”

Sho vanishes at that, before Mr. Joestar even manages to get out a single word.

“Oh my _God_ ,” he says, face planting a little. “Of course I know I can rely on him. Why would I agree to bring him along if I didn’t?”

☆

Fifteen minutes later you’re on a rescue ship, headed to Hong Kong shore. Most, if not all of the plane passengers with you are below deck, getting looked at by first aid workers. This left the main deck to you and your companions save for some crew, though you were rather keeping to yourself at the moment.

“You okay?” Kakyoin asks, leaning on the rails next to you. You’d been watching the waves lap at the boat, but you turn as he settles by your side.

“Yeah, I am.” You say. Physically speaking, you still feel a little weak, but at least you didn’t feel like throwing up anymore. The same can’t be said for your morale, though. “You good?”

“Mm-hm.” Kakyoin nods in response. He examines your face in concern. “You looked really pale back there, so I thought I’d check up on you.”

“Haha. That’s sweet of you, but I’m good. Really.”

Kakyoin gazes at the approaching coastline. He doesn’t seem to want to press you further, so he changes the topic. “That was quite a show Sho put on earlier, huh?”

You smile a little, not missing the lost opportunity for the pun, though you let it pass. Now didn’t seem the right time for jokes.

“Yeah… Even I was surprised, to be honest.”

“Well, let him know he shouldn’t take it so hard. I’m sure Tower of Gray would’ve attacked us anyway - it was just a matter of when and who.”

“Maybe. But he probably won’t listen.” Silence permeates the air between you two as you trail off. Your brow furrows as your mind goes back to the disasters of today’s events.

“You know what I said earlier? About thinking of Sho as a completely different person from myself?”

Kakyoin says nothing but looks at you attentively, waiting for you to continue.

“To be honest, that’s a lie. We disagree on a lot of things, and he’s even the opposite gender of me… but sometimes… sometimes it’s like we’re one person, if that makes sense. I could feel a certain way and he would know immediately, sometimes before I do. Other times, he says and does things I was just thinking of doing myself…”

“So when he prostrated himself in front of Mr. Joestar earlier, it reflected a little of your own guilt, huh?” Kakyoin says shrewdly.

You can’t help but laugh in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment. Kakyoin’s a sharp one, that’s for sure.

You finally respond after a while, after letting his acute observation sink in. “I suppose. Sub-consciously, at least.”

“The whole team probably feels the same way.” Kakyoin reasons. “If we didn’t travel on a commercial flight, maybe those four passengers would still be alive as we speak.”

“Yeah, maybe we should’ve thought of that before rushing in after Dio.” A bitter laugh escapes you at this – you didn’t even get to see the dead passengers’ faces, but they definitely had loved ones waiting for them… thanks to your rashness, their families would be left to wonder why they had to die, for as long as they lived, without ever getting an answer…

“Thank god Mr. Joestar landed that plane safely.” You continue. “God knows how many more would’ve died if he didn’t, and it would’ve been because of me…”

“Think nothing of it.” Kakyoin says firmly. “You helped out a great deal more by doing what you did.”

You stay silent at this, the uneasy guilt still obvious on your face.

“Well, I understand, though.” Kakyoin sighs. “I introduced myself by trying kill off you and Jotaro. Next thing I know, you’re gambling your life to save me, and Mrs. Kujo is fixing me up like I didn’t just attempt to murder her son.”

“You weren’t yourself at the time.”

“Yeah, but that got me thinking… if _I_ wasn’t stupid enough to let myself get caught by Dio in the first place, it wouldn’t have happened at all.” He grins. “I couldn’t even bring myself to look you in the eyes, at first. So I get it. I get how you must be feeling.”

He faces you at this, a soft smile gracing his features. “At any rate, guilt is self-defeating, no? Learning and moving on is the best thing you can do.”

“I guess so.” You say, knowing he’s absolutely right. You smile at him, feeling the weight in your chest lift a little.

“Thanks, Kakyoin.”

“Any time.”

Come to think of it… he’s standing pretty close. You don’t notice it at first, but you’d been sliding closer and closer to each other as you lean on the slippery railings. At this point, your shoulders are comfortably pressed against each other, and you’re close enough to fully appreciate the slight purple hue of his eyes…

“Getting cosy, I see.”

The both of you jump, hearing Jotaro’s deep voice from behind all of a sudden. You blush a little at the comment, moving away from Kakyoin as you do so.

“How long were you standing there for?” You ask, trying to sound nonchalant despite the heat on your cheeks.

“Long enough.” Is all Jotaro says. “The old man wants us to gather. We’re reaching the pier soon."

He turns to leave, but stops to make a brief comment, looking at you directly.

“Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t gonna do shit. Besides… what did you think this was? A vacation?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the Tower card plays out, true to form. Plus a couple of chaste shoulder touches with our beloved Kakyoin ;) Ooh la la what will happen next, I wonder?
> 
> \- MURINO


	5. Jean Pierre Polnareff

“Is that so? A Stand that allows its user to control people…”

Enyaba nods at this, the golden ornaments adorning her body glimmering in the candlelight. She had come to inform Dio the moment she glimpsed Tower of Gray’s death in the crystal ball, though the man – if she could even call him that – didn’t even seem interested in the news she had brought him.

“To think that he, of all people, would fail twice to kill the Joestars and their allies…” Dio says, not once moving from his spot by the bookshelves. Despite his large, chiseled figure, his fingers trace the titles with a ghostly finger, carrying himself with an elegance that is almost… otherworldly.

“No matter. As for the girl, her ‘ability’ is unrefined, and a mere facet of what I am capable of…”

“Which is why, Lord Dio, they will fall to the others long before they step foot on Egyptian soil.”

Dio ponders her claim, merely tilting his head in what she takes as mild amusement.

His response is brief.

“See to it that they don’t.”

With that, Enyaba takes her cue to excuse herself from Dio’s quarters. She doesn’t even turn as one of three women in Dio’s bed whimpers in her sleep, her naked form covered in nothing but the duvet.

The Joestars and their friends will die well before they cross Egypt’s border, she will make sure of that.

✰

“Let’s see if I’m following you so far – You claimed responsibility for _four_ counts of murder, so you could calm down the rest of the passengers on the flight.”

“Yup.” You say, feeling utterly spent. The cop looks to his partner, who mutters something you don’t understand. They’re clearly at a loss, despite the fact that you’ve told your story word for word multiple times, and to multiple officers, at that. Yet you don’t care how crazy they seem to think you are – no matter what angle your testimony is analyzed from, your actions will never make sense to any non-Stand user.

 _Sho_ … you grit your teeth as you attempt to summon him for the umpteenth time that night. This only makes you sway in your seat as a bout of dizziness overtakes you, with Sho, of course, nowhere to be seen.

This is the first time he didn’t show up when you needed him.

Suddenly, the door to the interrogation room creaks open, and another officer pokes his head in, speaking to his colleagues in rapid-fire Cantonese. The cop in charge of questioning you sighs, turning to you in resignation.

“Really? Fine... you’re free to go, miss.”

 _Finally._ You’d been in this room long enough to see the sun set and the sky turn pitch-black, answering the same damn questions again and again and getting the same distrustful look from every officer that had entered the room. You head to the visitor’s lounge, where the others are already waiting. Mr. Joestar stands in greeting when he spots you, and you nearly hug him in the intense relief that overtakes you.

“Sorry that took so long. I had to make quite a few calls, but the Foundation was eventually able to pull some strings with the local police.”

“You probably shouldn’t say that out here,” Avdol says, earning a sheepish smile and an ‘oops’ from Mr. Joestar.

“Anyways, let’s go find a hotel and turn in for the day. I’m gonna collapse any second now!” He says cheerfully. Avdol follows Mr. Joestar wordlessly as he exits the station, leaving you, Jotaro and Kakyoin to look at each other in wonder.

“How the hell is _he_ still so peppy?”

✰

Your group stops at the nearest hotel within the inner-city area, where Mr. Joestar books two double rooms and a single – no doubt for you, seeing as you’re the only girl in the group.

“Right,” Mr. Joestar says, tossing the keys to each of you. “Order room service if you like. Our rooms are next to each other, if you need anything… Otherwise, I’ll see you in the morning. ‘Night!”

And with that the group disbands, Mr. Joestar going off with Avdol, Jotaro with Kakyoin, and you to your solitary room.

You sigh in relief as you shut the door behind you, worn out beyond your limits. Still, you resist the urge to collapse on the spot and head for the shower, feeling much too filthy to snuggle into the linens just yet.

The warm water hitting your skin is pure bliss – your body briefly forgets how tired it is, and you close your eyes as the soap washes off your face. If you concentrate, it almost feels as if you’re back at home after a long day of school, taking a quick shower before you make dinner…

You nearly slip when Sho calls you from outside the shower stall.

“What the-“ You jump in surprise, but your senses don’t lie to you. Sho is indeed sitting on the bathroom counter, gaze turned away respectfully even though he’s seen you naked countless times.

“Where were you?” You ask, drying yourself off and stepping out of the shower. Words can’t say how relieved you are to see him; it’s as if a weight you didn’t know was weighing on you had suddenly been lifted.

“I was keeping a low profile.” Sho says simply. “I figured I draw too much attention, given the way I look and all, so I’m keeping hidden away unless you need me.”

His explanation sparks mild annoyance in you, which claws at your insides like an animal trying to break out of its cage.

“Well, I _did_ need you Sho. I was _calling_ you. For _seven_ fucking hours.”

His head snaps up to look at your face, and it’s clear that this is news to him.

“Wha-”

“Where were you when the police arrested us?” You hear your voice rise noticeably. “When we were taken in, and almost charged with murdering those people on the plane? If Mr. Joestar hadn’t bailed us out, who knows how much longer we would’ve been there?”

“I didn’t know!” Sho says in anguish. “I didn’t hear you call me at all, okay?”

Silence.

You look at Sho for a long time, searching his face – well, his visor, really – and find no trace of deception on him.

But why, then? Why couldn’t you summon him at the police station?

Only then do you notice that Sho looks a little… transparent. You realize that you can faintly make out the part of your reflection he’s blocked off in the mirror – almost as if you could see through him.

“…You’re exhausted. I can feel it.” Sho says, breaking the tense atmosphere.

You just sigh in response, feeling slightly ashamed at your outburst and instead busying yourself with putting on a bathrobe.

“Yeah. Well, I never had to use my powers on so many people before. Let alone all at once.”

“No kidding. You used them on more people today than you did the whole of last year.” Sho says lightly.

“Can’t help it when my Stand has a stick up his ass.” You say back. Sho laughs at this, and for a moment the mood returns to normal as you resume with the old banter.

“… Still, though.” Your voice takes on a serious tone once more. “This is the first time I couldn’t summon you when I needed to. I couldn’t even use Silver Tongue on those officers…”

Sho just shrugs. “Maybe you’re discovering your limits.”

You furrow your eyebrows in thought as you take in the suggestion. It’s true that today wasn’t exactly a typical one, for your standards, but to find out that your powers actually come with terms and conditions, after all the years you’ve had them, isn’t one you’re ready to accept.

“Well, that sucks. I already have trouble influencing people who are particularly distracted or determined, but now you’re telling me there’s a daily limit to how many people I can use it on…”

“Well, why don’t you get some rest, then. I’m sure you’ll be back to normal tomorrow.” Sho says reassuringly (but pointedly) as he follows you out to the bedroom.

Oh, Sho. Classic, nagging, caring Sho.

Not that he needs to tell you twice, anyway. You fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.

✰

The group wakes up closer to lunchtime than breakfast – not surprising, given yesterday’s chaos. Still, today promises to be a better one as you follow Mr. Joestar to his favorite eatery in the city.

You had taken the scenic route, taking the ferry across the harbor to Central and the tram to Wan Chai. Kakyoin, for his part, shows just how knowledgeable and well-travelled he is, pointing out famous buildings along the harbor and tram line to you.

“I tell you, the food here is amazing.” Mr. Joestar says cheerfully as the group finally reaches the restaurant, which seems a little too gaudy for your taste. In any case, you suspect a different reason for Mr. Joestar’s enthusiasm, when a curvy waitress in a qipao directs you to a table.

“Uh… Mr. Joestar, the menu is completely unreadable.” Avdol says, flipping through pages and pages of dishes. You glance at the menu yourself – though you recognize miscellaneous characters like ‘wine’ and ‘meat’, the traditional Chinese wordings are pretty much foreign to you.

“Don’t worry, I know what’s good,” Mr. Joestar says, already pointing out a multitude of dishes to a waiter who’s scribbling madly to keep up.

Once he’s taken care of ordering, Mr. Joestar goes from all smiles to a little more serious. He brings out a map, which has huge, curving arrows drawn on it with red marker – no doubt marking the new route you’ll be taking to Egypt.

“Okay, crew.” Mr. Joestar says. “As we know, Dio is watching our every move. It goes without saying, but we should expect to encounter more enemies as we get closer to Egypt.”

Everyone nods grimly at this, but says nothing, letting Mr. Joestar continue.

“Avdol and I discussed our new plan last night, and we decided that the best mode of travel from here is by sea. The Speedwagon Foundation will provide a boat and crew which will take us-” He traces his finger along the arrows- “as far as Singapore, from where we can make our way to Egypt. That is, if all goes well.”

He looks up at all of you. “Any questions?”

Kakyoin is the first to speak. “I’ve never travelled by sea before, but there’s no doubt it’ll go much slower than if we were to simply charter a plane…”

“It’s inconvenient,” Mr. Joestar nodded. “But considering our Stands’ abilities, we won’t be well-equipped to handle an attack that could send us crashing to our deaths. That considered, we’ll try not to use air travel – unless we can’t help it, of course.”

“Also, going by land would mean crossing the Himalayas and deserts,” Avdol adds, “which is definitely more difficult and dangerous. A boat would allow us to travel relatively faster, giving us a lot more spare time to locate Dio.”

“Hm. Then I guess I’m fine with it.” Kakyoin says, looking to you and Jotaro. The both of you nod your agreement, so he turns back to Joseph and Avdol.

“We’ll leave it to your hands.”

“Good, that’s settled, then! I'm starving!” Mr. Joestar claps his hands in satisfaction as the first dishes arrive in good time.

“What the…” You pick up your chopsticks, eager to start eating when you see the contents of the plates. The food, for sure, is arranged very beautifully, but apart from the spring rolls and vegetables, you’re not sure what most of the dishes are supposed to be. You eye one plateful of spiky, black slugs with particular unease.

“Come now, don’t be shy! Eat up!” Mr. Joestar breaks into booming laughter as he looks round at your faces - It’s obvious that he’s having great fun watching your reactions. Save for Kakyoin, you see your expression of distrust mirrored amongst everyone in the group.

“Dammit,” Jotaro mutters, “I knew this would happen if we trust everything to the old man...”

This only makes Mr. Joestar laugh harder.

“A lot of these are pretty good.” Kakyoin reassures. He takes a pair of deep-fried frog legs from the rotating tray, plucking them into your bowl with his chopsticks as he shoots you a mischievous grin.

“Unless you’re the squeamish type?”

You almost roll your eyes at this, but you play right into his reverse psychology anyway, taking a timid bite into the crispy skin.

Your eyebrows shoot up as the flavor hits your taste buds. It’s surprisingly… normal.

“It’s like chicken.”

“See?” Mr. Joestar says. Encouraged by your reaction, the rest of the group starts to take food. You return Kakyoin’s favor by taking a black slug and dropping it into his bowl.

“Nice try,” he smiles, giving you one as well. “It’s sea cucumber and it’s supposed to be really good for you.”

The rest of the dishes gradually arrive, and it’s clear that Mr. Joestar had pulled out all the stops with the first meal of your expedition. Among the delicacies are pig’s brain (which Avdol doesn’t touch), bird’s nest soup, and century eggs. You and Kakyoin make it a game to drop increasingly bizarre food into each other’s bowls. Each of his picks are actually quite good, though you nearly gag as you try something that turns out to be chicken testicles.

Kakyoin, for his part, doesn't stop wheezing with laughter for a good five minutes.

"Fuck you," you mutter, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. You wonder if the restaurant serves bleach.

"Spitters are quitters." Kakyoin grins, and you nearly lay down a sassy retort when you're approached by a confused-looking foreigner.

“Excuse me _, messieurs et mademoiselle,_ ” The man says, a menu in his hands. “I’m afraid I don’t understand Chinese, and I’m not quite sure what to order. Could I trouble you to help me out?”

“Go away.” Jotaro says before anyone else could say anything. “You’re bothering us.”

You flinch with second-hand embarrassment at the harsh treatment. Mr. Joestar looks at Jotaro with reproach, before turning to the stranger in apology.

“Excuse my grandson, he can be very rude at times. In fact... hell, why not. Why don’t you join us?”

The man raises his eyebrows (or lack thereof) at the unwarranted generosity. “Well I would love to, but I do hope I’m not intruding…”

“Don’t be silly,” Mr. Joestar says, already motioning for another set of eating utensils to be brought over. The stranger sits down, allowing Joseph to walk him through the dishes and trying the mussels as recommended when he mentions he’s from France.

“ _Mon dieu_ , but everything is quite elaborate.” The silver-haired man says with wonder as he examines a carrot. “Like this one, for instance… they even went so far as to cut it into a _star…_ ”

You see Avdol, Mr. Joestar and Jotaro tense subtly at this, much to your confusion. However, the stranger seems well aware of his effects on them, given the way he stares the Joestars down slyly.

“Much like the birthmarks on your backs, _non_?”

Suddenly, a silver figure erupts from the congee, causing the bowl to explode. Avdol is the first to react, jumping to his feet and summoning Magician’s Red. This is the first time you get to see his Stand up-close, but you can already feel its sheer power from where you sit – it’s almost as if you’re right in front of an exposed nuclear reactor.

Magician’s Red hurls meteors of flames at the stranger’s Stand, and you shield your face as the intense heat almost burns you in passing. All around, you could hear screams as the commotion catches the rest of the costumers’ attentions.

You’re pretty sure Avdol’s attack was enough to send the stranger straight into Hell’s seventh circle, but when you lower your arms you’re surprised to see that the man is still very much alive – and completely unscathed, at that. A slender, silver knight of a Stand shields him from Avdol, its rapier somehow having managed to skewer the flames like a burning kebab stick.

“My my,” the Frenchman says, quite amused at the show of power. “It seems like _you_ want to be the first to go, hm? By all means, be my guest.”

“Mr. Joestar!” You exclaim, increasingly aware of all the eyes on your group. Some of the surrounding tables are eyeing Avdol with sheer terror in their eyes. “We can’t fight here! We could hurt the other costumers if we do…“

“But of course, _mademoiselle._ How inconsiderate of me.” The stranger replies before Joseph does, nodding quite sensibly much to your surprise. He turns back to Avdol.

“Allow me to make this a fair fight. Magician’s Red _is_ best suited to wide-open spaces, after all...”

With that, the Frenchman makes as if to leave the restaurant, looking back to your group in challenge.

“Follow me, all of you. We can settle this somewhere else, where we’ll be… uninterrupted.”

✰

Tiger Balm Garden – Wan Chai. It’s full of the most colorful statues you’d ever seen, and if it weren’t for the seriousness of the fight that was about to go down, you might’ve stopped to marvel at the kitschy artistry of it all.

As it stands, however, you’re focused intently on Avdol and his challenger, who are standing on opposite ends of an empty square within the gardens. The Joestar men and Kakyoin sit on either side of you, all made to be spectators in this battle Avdol had insisted fighting one-on-one.

“Allow me to introduce myself _._ ” The Frenchman says. His Stand materializes by him in a blaze of white light. “My name is Jean-Pierre Polnareff, and my Stand-” the knight brandishes his rapier- “Is Silver Chariot. It may interest you, fortune teller, to know it is named after a certain card in the Tarot…”

“I know my trade well enough to have no need for such explanations.” Avdol smiles. He holds his arms out smugly, Magician’s Red mimicking his gesture. “Explains why you’re so confident, given that the Chariot Arcana represents power, triumph…”

“ _Exactement_. Which is why,” Polnareff says, getting into a fighting stance, “I am destined to win our battle today.”

Without further monologue, he attacks first, Silver Chariot swinging at Avdol’s Stand with easy swiftness. Magician’s Red remains stoic, easily dodging every lunge thrown its way with its arms crossed.

The lack of offense earns a loud, mocking laugh from Polnareff.

“Come on, what an insult! Not even gonna give this your all, huh?!”

“Don’t worry, I’m just warming up.” Avdol says. With the cry of a hawk, Magician’s Red draws an Ankh of fire mid-air, hurling it towards Polnareff with terrifying speed.

The Ankh explodes in a burst of hot gas as it makes contact with Silver Chariot, causing you and your fellow spectators to shield your eyes from the resulting steam. The heat of the battle is incredible, and you doubt that Polnareff would be so lucky as to survive a second time…

_“Auuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”_

You gasp as the agonized scream reverberates throughout the garden, jumping to your feet as you prepare to step into battle yourself. Jotaro and Kakyoin seem to have come to the same conclusion, standing up milliseconds after you do.

That scream hadn’t been Polnareff’s – but Avdol’s.

Your worst fears are confirmed as the steam eventually subsides. Polnareff stands proudly with his arms crossed, once again completely unharmed.

Across the square, an all-consuming fire licks at Avdol and Magician’s Red – a Stand and Stand user alike, presumably burning by the hand of their own flames.

But how? How could Avdol, a fire user, burn so easily like that…?

Polnareff’s smugness is imminent as he watches his opponent writhe on the ground in agony.

“Isn’t it a shame how Silver Chariot is too fast for you to handle? It had plenty of time to swing that fire attack back to you, too…”

“Dammit…!“ Jotaro says, about to step forward. But Mr. Joestar holds him back, eerily calm despite the horrifying sight of Avdol burning to death right in front of him.

“Don’t underestimate Avdol.” Is all he says, prompting all of you to sit back down. “He’s a much better fighter than you think.”

Meanwhile, Polnareff walks over to his fallen opponent, apparently confident in his victory, given that he’s already called off his own Stand. Though, by the way his face is scrunched up, it’s clear that he feels somewhat unsatisfied with the outcome of the battle.

“What a shame… And to think I expected much more from you, Muhammad Avdol. I _was_ told you were a formidable opponent.”

Without warning, a fireball bursts from the burning chest of Magician’s Red, hitting Polnareff dead center.

You could tell at once this kind of fire magic was different; the flames licked at Polnareff slowly, like a cobra swallowing its prey, engulfing him with blue flames instead of red ones.

“The first rule in battle,” Avdol’s calm voice echoes, ”is to never celebrate your victories too early.”

Suddenly, the image of a burning Avdol dissipates, as if made of smoke all along. The real Avdol steps out of the resulting fog, completely unharmed, as Polnareff drops to his knees in pain.

Despite Mr. Joestar’s apparent confidence in his ally, you hear him sigh in relief to your side – Avdol dying had simply been a clever mirage; a trick of the heat, so to speak.

“That is Eternal Fire,” Avdol says grimly, as Polnareff is steadily consumed by the flames spreading outwards from his center. “It will engulf you slowly, and it won’t stop until you are nothing but ashes.”

Total silence permeates the square, punctured occasionally by grunts of pain from Polnareff. It’s clear that he’s in too much pain to speak - the Fire lights up his whole form, in the twisted likeness of a flame lapping at a candlewick.

As for you, the whole scene is too terrible to witness. You avert your gaze as you get to your feet with everyone else. There’s no doubt this time that the fight is already over - and who the victor is.

Before Avdol turns to leave, however, he pulls a knife from the inside of his robes, dropping it in front of Polnareff. A look of pity crosses his face.

“Fire is a horrible way to perish,” he says. “Take the dagger and end your life, while your hands are still whole enough to hold it.”

And with that, Avdol walks off, leaving the rest of you to follow.

From your periphery, you watch as Polnareff takes the knife, his hands shaking with incredible effort just to keep a grip.

You look away firmly as he raises it, waiting to hear the visceral sound of metal puncturing skin. You have no reason to be concerned for Polnareff at all - well, other than the fact that he's literally burning to death as you follow Avdol's receding back - but you can't help it. You _know_ he's the enemy, but walking away from his burning body feels terribly, coldly inhumane...

Yet, contrary to your expectations, Polnareff speaks up, voice ragged and faint - but determined.

“No… It… won’t be necessary.”

The strain it takes for him to talk is audible, but he starts laughing, much to your disbelief. You hear a _clang_ , and turn his way once more to see that he had dropped to the ground in resignation, dagger abandoned to the side.

“It seems… I was much too conceited this time… I accept my defeat, to a man who has skillfully defeated me…”

_Snap._

Avdol extinguishes Eternal Fire with a flick of his fingers, turning back to the other man in incredulity. He returns to Polnareff’s side, bending down to look him in the eyes.

You swear you see Kakyoin smile from the corner of your eyes.

“Even in the face of death, you conduct yourself with honor…?” Avdol asks, but Polnareff’s had already closed his eyes, unconscious, but still breathing shallowly. Avdol holds him up, wondering to himself:

“If Dio had indeed sent you, you would’ve stooped as low as you would’ve needed to kill me… But this kind of chivalry… I have never seen from any of Dio’s servants…”

With a questioning ‘hmph?’, Avdol pushes aside some of Polnareff’s hair, noticing something lodged on his forehead.

“He's got a flesh bud on him!” Avdol says, looking to you and Jotaro as he does. But he need not say more - Sho was already by your side, as was Star Platinum by Jotaro’s.

✰

“Eugh! That was so gross! It still makes me squirm every time you do that!”

“Shut up, old man.” Jotaro says as he squashes the flesh bud with Star Platinum’s fists. Some of its bodily juices land on your shirt, and you nearly regret forcing down the chicken testicle at the restaurant earlier.

“Ehehe,” Mr. Joestar grins, unperturbed by his grandson’s habitual rudeness. He props up the still unconscious Polnareff, now completely free of flesh buds. “You know, Avdol, I can’t believe you spared him at the last second.”

“It would’ve been a tragedy if someone with his character died under Dio’s orders.” Avdol says resolutely. This makes Mr. Joestar smile even wider.

“Well, I can already smell the _bud-_ ding friendship. Eh? Eh?”

You’re the only one in the group that laughs. Jotaro, for his part, pulls down his cap with a scowl.

“Kakyoin, don’t guys that make stupid puns like him seriously piss you off?”

“What’s the matter, Jotaro? You seem really _steamed_ at your old man…”

But even you groan as you catch onto the quip.

"Too soon, Mr. Joestar, too soon..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you learn about the limits of your powers, eat chicken testes at Kakyoin's challenge, and hear a couple of bad puns from Mr. Joestar. Also there's a new name to add to the character tags. ;) Not bad for your first two days abroad.
> 
> \- MURINO


	6. A Midsummer Night's Crusade

Next morning – a particularly restless Sho wakes you up, telling you to move your ass unless you wanted to get left behind in Hong Kong. As usual you grumble a good deal, but nevertheless let him poke you out of bed and into the bathroom to get dressed.

In other words – he’s still annoying as ever, even in a city two thousand miles away from home.

“Goddammit, Sho…” You grumble as you reach the foyer, where – surprise, surprise – none of your companions were yet to be seen. “I keep telling you there’s no rush but you just won’t listen, huh?”

“Well, what about it? Would you rather be late? Keep the others waiting? Hm?” Sho asks, floating around as you took a seat in the lobby.

You were about to sass him when Mr. Joestar’s voice booms from the staircase.

“Morning!” He says, walking over to you with Avdol trailing behind him. “You’re here pretty early.”

“Of course, Mr. Joestar.” You give him a beaming smile. “You know me. Always on time.”

You didn’t even need to look to know Sho was rolling his eyes.

Once Jotaro and Kakyoin had come down, the group checks out at reception and heads for the Kowloon pier, Sho making himself scarce for the time being. You spot the Speedwagon-chartered boat almost immediately, looking absolutely tiny nestled amongst the freighters lining the dock.

Equally easy to spot, though, was the silver-haired man waiting next to it, arms crossed as he leans on a mooring.

“What’s he doing here…?” Jotaro asks, his brows furrowed in suspicion.

Polnareff looks up as your group draws near, standing to greet you with a solemn expression. He carries himself gracefully, as always, yet he seems much less smug compared to yesterday.

Avdol steps forward, being the first to greet Polnareff. Much to your interest, his demeanor towards the Frenchman’s unexpected appearance is most welcoming.

“We meet again,” Avdol smiles at Polnareff warmly. “And to what do we owe this pleasure?”

Maybe Mr. Joestar was right about the budding bromance.

Polnareff looks to your group solemnly. “I never got to thank you properly for freeing me from Dio’s mind control.”

You can’t help but smile at the sincerity, but next to you Jotaro’s reaction is completely different. He turns from the man with a dismissive ‘tch’.

“Don’t need your thanks.”

 _Sheeeesh._ You shoot Jotaro a death glare for the cold response. Polnareff looks taken aback, but he takes the rejection in stride gracefully. Nonetheless, you strike him an apologetic look – Jotaro’s interacted all but twice with the man, yet so far all exchanges had involved snubbing him.

“Think nothing of yesterday.” You tell Polnareff reassuringly. “Although… did you come here just to say thanks?”

“Not quite, my lovely mademoiselle.” He says, shooting you the smallest of smiles before turning to Joseph Joestar.

“I came hoping you’ll indulge me in a simple question, Monsieur…?”

“Monsieur Joestar. And sure, ask away.” Mr. Joestar says, butchering the French pretty badly.

“I couldn’t help but notice the gloves you’re always wearing. I’m sure you’re not him, but…” Polnareff looks slightly anguished as he presses on. “You wouldn’t happen to have two right hands, would you?”

Mr. Joestar raises an eyebrow at this, though he answers fully despite his surprise.

“No, as a matter of fact…” He pulls off the left glove to reveal a hand unlike anything you’d ever seen. The chrome prosthetic is made up of more individual parts than you could count. In short, it’s simply incredible – the machinery mimics muscle and bone in a way that allowed Mr. Joestar to flex it just like the real thing, if not better.

“I don’t even have two hands.” Joseph says. “I lost the left one in a battle decades ago.”

“I see… Pardon me for asking.”

“No matter,” Mr. Joestar says, slipping the glove on again. “But if I may ask, why are you looking for a man with two right hands?”

Polnareff’s expression darkens, despite having been stoic thus far. He turns his gaze out to sea, as if maintaining eye contact is suddenly too painful.

“I made a promise to myself.”

“It doesn’t happen to be one involving revenge, does it?” Avdol says out of nowhere. Polnareff’s head snaps round at this, turning to Avdol in bewilderment.

“What…? But how could you possibly know?”

“It seems you named your Stand more appropriately than you realize.” Avdol chuckles, nodding knowingly. “Silver Chariot manifests strength, determination, willpower, yet the arcana it borrows from also symbolizes vengeance, a lack of direction… and something about you, my friend, tells me you feel very lost indeed.”

Polnareff looks utterly taken aback by this, but he smiles like he’s been caught red-handed.

“ _Mon dieu…_ what a scary fortune teller you are.”

He turns to all of you. “I’ll make this short. For years I’ve travelled the world, looking for the man that killed my sister. I know nothing about him… not even his name, or how he looks, but what I _am_ sure of is that he’s a Stand user with two right hands.

A year ago my search brought me to Egypt, where I met Dio. He knew who that man was, and promised to grant me the justice I long sought for my sister… I let my guard down, and before I knew it he had done something to me, that compelled me to kill you all on his behalf… I tried so hard to break free, but in the end… I couldn’t fight it.”

Polnareff trails off, and Kakyoin, who had been listening intently all the while, shakes his head grimly.

“I’m sorry to say this, but I’m almost certain your sister’s murderer is working under Dio. There’s no other reason to explain why Dio would know who you’re talking about.”

“I know.” Polnareff’s nods. “It’s tormented me ever since I regained my free will. And if it’s true… Well. Then I’ve been had.”

On this note, he looks up to all of you, the distress on his face replaced completely with determination.

“Please, let me go with you to Egypt! By following Dio’s trail, I’m sure I will finally meet the killer I’ve wished to find for so long…!”

Mr. Joestar is quite taken aback by the forceful request, though he actually seems to consider it seriously.

“Hmm… It might not be a bad idea to have another Stand user on our side, but I must say, this _is_ very sudden…”

“I say we let him.” Avdol says promptly. You think you’re starting to see a pattern here, as you listen to him vouch for Polnareff.

“We’ve seen the way he can fight. Letting him accompany us on the expedition could be to our advantage.”

Polnareff smiles gratefully at this, adding, “I’ve trained many years for the moment I’ll send my sister’s murderer to Hell. Let me lend you my strength - I’m sure I’ll be a great asset to you all.”

None of you seem to have any qualms with his proposal, though you note that Jotaro doesn’t look particularly happy with it. Mr. Joestar, for his part, takes the lack of protest as unanimous agreement. He holds out his hand to the Frenchman, like an employer congratulating a newly hired candidate.

“Well then, Jean Pierre Polnareff. Glad to have you aboard.”

☆

“Fuck this, I can’t sleep on boats.”

The departure from the pier had gone smoothly – you’d spent pretty much the rest of the day on deck with the others, watching the city skyline disappear and enjoying the cool sea breeze.

Come dusk though, and the sea had turned into a completely different one. The boat is being tossed about by rough waves as it goes further into the South China Sea, now closer to the Philippines than Hong Kong. You’d turned in for the night at a prudent hour, trying to get to sleep but failing miserably as the tides induce mild vertigo with every attempt to drift off.

So you sit up in bed after three long hours, unable to spend another minute lying down and a little annoyed about it. Sho takes it as his cue to appear, his arms folded in amusement as he leans on the dresser.

“What’s the matter? Need me to tell you a bedtime story?”

“Oh, very funny. Please do.” You say sarcastically, getting your feet into some slippers - Might as well get some fresh air and listen to Sho’s chatter until the insomnia wears off.

Sho drifts after you as you leave your room, feeling your way down the unlit hall. You try to be as quiet as possible, since everything feels hush-hush so late into the night.

“Oh, you’re gonna regret saying that.” He suppresses a laugh, his voice circling you as you walk in near-total darkness, “Let’s see… stories, huh? Well, remember the days when you wouldn’t fall sleep until I told you one before bed?”

You get a sense of impending doom at this prompt. “Yeah. And? The last time you told me one was eight years ago.”

Sho steadies you as an unexpectedly large wave rocks the boat and nearly trips you. It’s clear that he’s immensely enjoying the opportunity to tease you with your childhood stories. He presses on:

“You were _obsessed_ with magical girls. Ohhh, there was this one month where you’d listen to nothing but my rip-offs of _Majokko Mika-chan_ , and I thought I was gonna go senile racking my brain for new girly plots every night-”

“And what about it? Everyone’s got their childhood obsessions.”

But Sho is particularly merciless tonight.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? One time you begged me to name _you_ the main character, then tell you a story where you save and marry this boy. A boy who _just so_ _happened_ to be named after the kid next door…”

“Fuck. Okay, you can stop now. I’m done with stories,” you say, feeling yourself redden at the long-buried memory. You cover your face, even though you know Sho can’t see the color on your cheeks in this lighting.

“But that’s not all, the names always changed whenever-”

“Sho, if you don’t stop I’m gonna take your katana and shove it right where you-”

_Bang. Bang bang._

Sho draws his katana at the distant noise, which sounded like it came from the storage rooms by the opposite end of the hallway. Electricity jolts through your veins as you freeze at the sound, despite instinct telling you to run and never look back.

“Just sounded like some boxes falling…” You murmur, watching nevertheless for any movement down the passageway.

“Maybe,” Sho says, though he doesn’t lower his guard. “Though I could’ve sworn I heard something squeak after that-“

Suddenly the door nearest to you opens, which startles you. Sho leaps in front of you on instinct, katana pointed threateningly towards the silhouette in the doorway.

The voice is calm, familiar and tinged with exasperation.

“Your Stand’s a real danger to other people, just so you know.”

“Chill, it’s just Jotaro.” You bring Sho’s hand down gently with your own, but not before you see that his blade had been centimeters from poking Jotaro in the Adam’s apple. Much to his credit though, Jotaro doesn’t even seem fazed, staring Sho down with his usual intensity before looking to you, clearly irritated.

“Keep it down, dammit. Other people are trying to sleep.”

You faintly make out his appearance in the dim lighting, noticing at once that his signature black hat is missing, revealing a shock of black hair that is messily pushed back. His outfit, though, is still the same uniform he’d been wearing since he’d stepped out of Japan.

“My bad.” You say apologetically, though despite yourself, you jokingly add, “Don’t tell me you sleep in your uniform.”

Jotaro merely gives you a long look at this. The darkness makes it difficult to determine if he’s amused or angry – not that it’s normally easy, anyway. At any rate, you expect him to shut the door in your face without another word, but instead he tilts his head, the tone of his voice indiscernible.

“Magical girls? Really?”

With that, he retreats into his quarters, leaving you to burn with mortification and for Sho to quake with silent laughter.

☆

“Haha, what an asshole! I never thought he’d be the kind to eavesdrop…”

“Shut up. I’m not talking to you.” You scowl as Sho (poorly) tries to make you feel better. Words can’t express just how much you want to stomp on every stair you climb, like a child throwing a temper tantrum. The wind that hits you as soon as you step on deck is pleasant, but you’re just too furious at Sho and his big mouth to even care.

“Come now, he’ll probably forget it in the morning.” Sho floats around you playfully, still laughing zealously despite your wrath.

“Well _I_ certainly fucking won’t. _Fuck_ you, Sho, you did me so dirty, I don’t think I’ll _ever_ -”

“Shh.” Sho abruptly clamps his hand to your mouth. You as good as slap it off, prepared to cuss him out till dawn, but he takes your head in his hands and forces you to look where he was staring.

“I’m telling you, you might wanna pipe down for this.” He whispers.

Avdol and Polnareff are standing by the starboard railings, their figures huddled quite close to each other. You’re much too far to hear them talking, though the moonlight illuminates their faces softly– It’s clear from their somber expressions that the conversation they’re having is serious.

Besides… there was something really intimate about the way Avdol holds Polnareff’s hand, turning the palm up and cupping it in both of his own.

“I really feel like we shouldn’t be witnessing this…” Sho mutters. You agree silently, despite the almost forbidden curiosity that had started to take over you.

Although… you _could_ get away with watching, if you really wanted to… since you are well-hidden from where you stood in the shadows…

But less than ten seconds later, Polnareff takes his hand firmly from Avdol’s, saying a few terse words before brushing past him none too gently. You could see the stony expression on his face as he makes his way to the right-hand staircase - no doubt to retire to his own quarters for the night.

Avdol, for his part, is frozen where he stands, watching Polnareff’s receding back with a strangely mournful expression.

“Why don’t you go talk to him?” Sho suddenly says, his head perched on your shoulder from behind.

You raise your eyebrows at the unwonted suggestion. It’s true that Avdol looks uncharacteristically down, but you’re not sure you want to reveal having walked in on such a highly personal moment…

But Sho’s pushing you before you even have time to consider. He nudges you forward, which propels you from your hiding spot - but not before whispering a suggestive reminder into your ear.

“Don’t stay up all night with him, now.”

“Hey…!”

But Sho’s already poofed away into thin air, deaf to your protests.

What the hell does he even mean by that?

Avdol turns as he spots you from the corner of his eye. He looks a little taken aback, not least because you look pretty bewildered yourself. He greets you, however, as if nothing of note had happened before you arrived.

“Good evening.” He says, nodding at you amicably. “Having trouble sleeping?”

“H-how did you know?” You say, trying not to sound awkward despite the fact that you’d just been thrown, unwarranted, into this mini-predicament by Sho.

Avdol smiles, tapping his forehead with one ring-adorned finger.

“I’d like to say it’s my sixth sense as a clairvoyant, but sometimes it’s just intuition.”

You laugh a little. “Yeah. I guess I’m pretty restless right now.”

Avdol turns to observe the waves lapping at the boat, and silence falls as you wait for him to say something.

“Well, if that’s the case…” He turns to you, a thoughtful smile gracing his features. “I don’t suppose you’d like to talk with me for a while?”

☆

You and Avdol sit side by side, having settled on a bench near the prow of the boat. Above you, the stars in the sky twinkle in their multitudes – it’s nothing like you’d ever seen back in Tokyo.

“So what’s on your mind, young miss?”

“First of all,” you quip, “There’s no need to be so formal. Just calling me by my first name is fine.”

Avdol’s eyebrows raise subtly at this.

“Really? That would be… strange, seeing as we’re not that close.”

“Well, we’re both busting our asses for Mr. Joestar, aren’t we?” You joke. “Don’t see it ending any time soon, so we might as well get better acquainted.”

This gets a laugh out of Avdol.

“Fine, if you insist.”

You tilt your head, regarding him with great interest.

“Speaking of Mr. Joestar, I don’t actually know what the relationship between the two of you is. Do you work for him, or…?”

“Well, I suppose you could say that. I had worked with the Speedwagon Foundation before, when they required my assistance pursuing a rogue Stand user in Egypt. But that was many years ago, and I now consider Mr. Joestar an old friend.”

“I see… so that’s why you’re going after Dio with him, then.”

“Yes,” Avdol nods. A soft expression crosses his features.

“Besides… I owe much to Mr. Joestar. Thanks to him, when Dio showed himself to me four months ago in Cairo, I knew who he was, and what he was capable of. If Mr. Joestar hadn’t warned me that a monster like him was prowling around in my hometown… well, I might not have been able to narrowly escape being brainwashed.”

He turns to you at this, smiling wryly. “Perhaps I would have been another enemy you’d have to fight.”

“Even if you were, Jotaro and I would’ve gotten the flesh bud off you. Easy.” You return Avdol’s smile with one of your own. “But we _would_ have to beat the crap out of you first, though.”

Avdol lets out a round of chuckles at this. You marvel at how easy it is to talk to him despite his formal - and often serious - personality.

“Are you cold?” Avdol asks when he notices you jittering a little. You shake your head, not wanting to admit that the strong breeze had started to get to you. Despite this, he shrugs off his robe wordlessly, draping the warm cotton over your shoulders before you can say anything.

“No, I insist.” Avdol says firmly when you protest a little. “I’d been concerned about you ever since you fainted on the plane.”

“But that was two days ago. I’m fine now.” You can’t help but feel a little chastised, though you sense Avdol’s consideration for you. All the same, you don’t like being fussed over, and the plane incident is something you don’t particularly like being reminded of.

“I had feared for the worst.” Avdol says. “Fortunately you were able to recover completely, given some rest.”

“Luckily.” You agree. Your brow furrows, however, as you remember the events of the first night in Hong Kong.

“Avdol… we were taken to the police station after getting to shore, right? Well, when I was being questioned, I felt sick every time I tried to summon Sho, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t use Silver Tongue on those officers at all.”

“Which is to be expected.” Avdol nods affirmatively. “You over-expended yourself against Tower of Gray, so attempting to call further on your Stand abilities was physically impossible to you.”

“But that’s not all,” you press on. “It should’ve worried me more at the time, but when Sho finally appeared later that night, he looked a little transparent. Like he was fading a little.”

Avdol looks taken aback by this piece of information, an unreadable expression crossing his face as he turns his gaze to the sea.

“That was what I was afraid of.” He finally says, looking deep in thought. “From what you’re saying, it sounds as if you dipped into your very life’s essence using your ability on the plane… and if you had used your abilities further, well - there’s no telling what would’ve happened. Maybe you would’ve died, or at the very least, lost your Stand forever.”

Your stomach lurches at this, and you dig your nails into your thighs as you take in Avdol’s words. Thought after thought flashes through your mind as hindsight hits you like a brick in the face.

Not that you realized it at the time, but on the first day being out of Japan, you had brushed against the possibility of Sho disappearing for good… Sho, who’s been in your life for as long as you could remember…

It’s almost childish, but you dread losing Sho more than death itself.

“I'm curious.” Avdol says, breaking you out of your reverie. “What is the most you’ve done with your abilities? Prior to this trip, I mean.”

“Hm? Well… let’s see… I once used Silver Tongue to convince my whole class that they wanted to play volleyball in PE. It can’t have been more than 30 people, I think.”

“I see. And how did you feel after that? Do you remember?”

You try to recall, but nothing comes to mind. “I don’t know. That was years ago in middle school, but I do remember it being very difficult. That was the most people I’d ever used my ability on at once.”

“And yet you were able to knock out 150 people simultaneously on an international flight.” Avdol says, nodding intently as if he were getting to something. In any case, this is confirmed when he continues:

“I’m convinced you don’t have a full grasp of your powers just yet. I suggest that you experiment, in order to control and understand your powers better.”

Your eyebrows raise at this proposition. It’s true that you’ve used your abilities sparingly thus far, but if you wanted to push the limits of your power, well… how would you even begin?

“I’ve had Magician’s Red since birth.” Avdol says, as if sensing your unasked question. “At first, all I could do was to simply create fire, with no art or technique to my abilities. Over time, I understood the greater extent of my powers, the more things I tried - and eventually, I was able to manipulate the properties of the flames I conjured, well enough to make new ones mankind had never seen before…”

He turns to you meaningfully at this. “Shogun Silver is a Stand with completely different abilities, but I am certain the same principles apply. You’ll have a lot of opportunities to sharpen your sword, so to speak, as I expect more of Dio’s henchmen will be approaching us in the immediate future.”

On that note, Avdol stands to stretch, looking up at the waxing crescent of a moon and smiling back to you as he does so.

“But for now, we should get some sleep. Wouldn’t you agree?”

You concede, handing Avdol’s robe back to him and bidding him goodnight. As you climb into bed for the second time that evening, you can’t help but feel more awake than when you'd left it in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An unusually peaceful chapter with no Stand fights, but a whole lot of unfurling drama umu  
> What's going on between Avdol and Polnareff? And what does Avdol mean when Reader-chan should experiment with her powers?
> 
> IMO Avdol didn't get the love he deserved in Season 3 - hence, this chapter is a tribute to his character which I adore so much :)
> 
> I also can't thank you guys enough for the kind comments. Seriously every time I see a new one in my inbox my heart just goes ✨💖🦋💕 Keep em coming, I love interacting with you all :D Otherwise, see ya in the next update <3
> 
> \- MURINO


	7. The Moon's Strength, Part 1

“We _are_ full-time students after all, so of course we’d try to look presentable at all times...”

“So why isn’t _she_ wearing a uniform?”

You snap out of a daydream when Mr. Joestar mentions your name. Once again, everyone is congregated at the outdoor lounge, taking in the second pleasant afternoon of your journey at sea. You hadn’t been following the discussion, however, since you keep drifting off from sleeping very little the night before.

Fortunately, Sho had been listening to the conversation, perched quietly on his spot by the handrails. He answers for you:

“Well _maybe_ she had enough sense to bring more than her school uniform. Can’t speak for those two, though.”

“Hmph.” Polnareff says, turning to Jotaro and Kakyoin. “It’s all well and good if you want to dress smartly, but you really won’t get any girls wearing those things…”

He looks to you at this. “Wouldn't you agree?”

Your eyebrows raise at the sudden question. “Huh? What am I supposed to say to that?”

“What I mean to ask is – as the only girl of the group, do you think that Jotaro and Kakyoin look good in those uniforms?”

You glance over to the two boys in question, feeling very put on the spot indeed. Jotaro doesn’t even open his eyes at this, continuing to bask in the sun’s rays with his hands behind his head. Kakyoin, however, flashes you a playful smile when you meet his eyes.

“Well.” You look away, suddenly feeling a little flustered. “Let’s just say I can’t imagine them wearing anything else.”

This elicits a hearty laugh from Polnareff. “But you avoided the question, _ma chère amie_!”

“Come on, Polnareff,” Avdol cuts in lightly. “That’s not a fair question to ask her now, is it?”

You shoot Avdol a grateful smile, which he reciprocates with a wink. Yesterday’s conversation really makes you feel as if you understand him more now. Polnareff, on the other hand…

Well. At any rate, he doesn’t seem to be acting weird with Avdol. The two are actually getting along quite cordially, which only makes you ever more curious about their hushed conversation the night before.

The conversation is suddenly cut short by a child skidding round the corner, stopping abruptly when he spots your group up ahead.

You could hear the distant shouts of crew members behind him.

_“Don’t let that rat escape!”_

A look of panic flashes across the child’s face, and before any of you could react, he jumps the railings and plunges into the water below. You gasp and jump up, running to the edge of the boat immediately.

The kid is swimming against the waves, trying in vain to get away from the boat.

“Hey, come back!” Mr. Joestar yells from behind you. “It’s dangerous! You could drown!”

“Pipe down, old man.” Jotaro says, his voice tinged with mild annoyance. “The runt’s probably a decent swimmer if they can just dive off like that.”

Mr. Joestar just facepalms at this. “Still… Where does he think he’s going? We’re in the middle of the goddamn sea, for crying out loud…”

Meanwhile, a crew member finally runs up to you, panting heavily as he explains the situation.

“Our apologies, sir. Ma’am.” He says, nodding to Mr. Joestar and you. “We found that stowaway in one of the storage holds, and it slipped away before we could grab it – didn’t expect it to jump ship like that, though.”

You signal Sho, who nods wordlessly at your unspoken request. In one smooth motion, he glides one-handed over the railings and into the water.

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle this.” You say to the crewmate. You ignore his slightly befuddled expression, turning back to the water in time to see Sho grab the child under the armpits.

Meanwhile, Kakyoin settles on the handrail next to you, watching as Sho drags the distressed kid back to the boat, all while trying not to get elbowed in the visor.

“You gotta admit though, that punk sure has guts…” He comments, idly resting his head on his fist.

You don’t expect it when he suddenly jerks up and grabs your shoulder.

“No way, look…!”

You follow where he’s pointing, startling in alarm when you see it yourself.

A dark shadow looms under Sho and the child, swimming ominously around and under them like a vulture circling a carcass. Sho clearly notices this as well, as he doubles his efforts to get back to the ship faster.

“Hierophant Green!” Kakyoin yells. His Stand materializes at once, speeding into the waves and to Sho’s aid. It grabs the shouting child by the feet, helping heave him out of the water and back into the boat.

And just in the nick of time, too – A mass of metallic-blue scales pounce out of the water, where Sho and the kid had been just milliseconds ago. You don’t miss the four yellow eyes that flash up at you, just as the monster disappears into the water once more.

“That was no ordinary sea animal.” Kakyoin says grimly, his hand gripped tightly around the handrails.

Avdol, who had been watching nearby with the others, nods in agreement.

“There’s no doubt that was an enemy Stand.” He says musingly. “It pounced exactly when Shogun Silver entered the water – any normal sea predator, on the other hand, would’ve attacked as soon as the child jumped in.”

A bewildered look crosses Polnareff’s features. “That’s impossible. We’re all the way out at sea, and there’s nobody else around for miles…”

Still, Avdol sticks firmly to his deduction, though the fascination on his face is palpable.

“I must admit, even with all my dealings in the occult, I’ve never even heard of aquatic Stands…”

Meanwhile, the child is on all fours, hacking up seawater on the deck as Sho and Hierophant Green circle him. He doesn’t even seem to notice them, however, as he looks right through Sho’s feet to glare accusingly at your group.

“What the hell did you do to me?!” He says, still trying to seem threatening despite the fear creeping into his voice. “I-I don’t understand… I got dragged back here somehow… by _nothing_ …”

“Relax.” You say, leaning down to help the kid up. “There’s no land around for miles. Of course we had to get you back on the boat.”

The child looks at your extended hand apprehensively, as if expecting you to bite the moment he takes it. After a few seconds of deliberation, though, he backs off from you, choosing instead to get up by himself.

Ouch. Well, it seems that he doesn’t trust you just yet.

Jotaro eyes the child suspiciously, looking him up and down as if analyzing everything from his overalls to his tattered hat. Without warning, Jotaro reaches out and plucks the cap from the child’s head.

“Hey!”

The kid brings his hands up, trying in vain to shield his hair, but it’s too late – long, wavy black locks cascade down the kid’s shoulders, framing their face in a rather effeminate manner.

You realize at once that you’ve severely misgendered the child at hand.

“I knew something was off.” Jotaro says. “The little runt’s actually a girl.”

The kid snarls in response, looking furious at Jotaro all the while.

“So what? Got a problem with that, jerkhole?”

“Jerkhole?” Kakyoin repeats, looking more and more amused by the second. This only serves to infuriate the girl even further, her face growing visibly red.

“Well, something tells me this kid definitely isn’t the Stand user.” Jotaro says. He turns his attention to Mr. Joestar. “Old man, didn’t you say that none of the crew members on board are Stand users?”

“Absolutely not.” Mr. Joestar says decisively. “I had background checks done on every single one of them.”

The look on Jotaro’s face makes it clear this doesn’t quite convince him. Your brows furrow as you follow Jotaro’s line of thought, trying to come up with the next course of action.

You're over 200 kilometers away from shore in every direction, and since there are no other ships around, it's very unlikely that the enemy attempted to attack Sho from dry land, or on some nearby vessel. All things considered, perhaps Jotaro could be on to something, if he's directing his suspicion to the people on your very boat.

"Better safe than sorry.” You say eventually. “Mr. Joestar, why don’t I talk to the crew members? If there’s indeed a Stand user among them, then Sho and I will weed them out.”

You make eye contact with Jotaro at this, and one nod tells you he’s on board with your proposal. Mr. Joestar, however, merely scratches his head in resignation.

“Alright, but I really don’t think you’ll find anything…”

☆

Three minutes later – all eleven boating crew are gathered on deck. You stand in front of them, noting the expressions that range from politely intrigued to rather confused. Your travel companions, meanwhile, stand quietly to the side with the child, letting you work uninterrupted.

“I’ll cut to the chase.” You say, directing a piercing stare to each and every sailor lined in front of you. “Just a while ago, one of us went into the open water when this kid-” you nod to the stowaway- “jumped overboard. It was then an enemy Stand showed itself, and attempted to attack one of us.”

The sailors exchange apprehensive looks at your words, but say nothing. You press on:

“There is only one explanation for this; one of you is a traitor, and I intend to find out who.”

The reaction is akin to poking a bees’ nest – the whole boating crew starts to bristle visibly in alarm, and you notice Mr. Joestar’s eyebrows shoot up violently in the periphery of your vision, though you purposely ignore this.

Of course you’re just bluffing, and he knows it – as it stands, you might have just accused eleven innocent sailors of treachery.

But what you also know, is that people own up once they think they’ve been caught out.

“Hold on, little lady.” One particularly bold sailor says, sounding (understandably) enraged. “What do you mean, _traitor_? We’re all just doing our jobs and getting you to Singapore, aren’t we?”

His colleagues murmur in agreement, eyeing you with distrust and annoyance. They all start talking at once, emboldened by the first speaker.

“What does she even mean by ‘Enemy Stand’…?”

“Yeah, I don’t even know what that is…”

“Imagine… accusing us out of nowhere like that…”

You grit your teeth at the comments flying around, but you hold up your hand, mustering your most authoritative tone.

“ _Quiet._ ”

The crew falls silent at your use of Silver Tongue – the concentration needed to channel your abilities strains at your mind a little, but judging from their reactions, it seems to be working well on all of them.

“Tell the truth. One of you should know _very_ well what a Stand is.”

“I do.” The captain says out of nowhere. All eyes turn to him, and he looks around at all of you in return, looking innocently bewildered.

“I’ve heard stories about them.” He explains simply, looking to you and your companions. “I saw that kid somehow get pulled back to the boat from my post. From what you’re saying… I can only conclude you’re one of those Stand users I’ve heard rumors about.”

“How very shrewd of you, my dear Captain.” Sho says, appearing behind the man in question. The captain jumps at the voice, turning to look at Sho in surprise.

The piss-poor explanation was a dead giveaway, but in any case, it seems you’ve found your Stand user.

“Captain Tennille!” Mr. Joestar exclaims. “The Foundation gave me their word you could be trusted!”

The captain smiles wryly at this, turning slowly to face Mr. Joestar in a way you can only describe as unnerving. He looks at Joseph, his eyes like those of a dead fish.

“Who?” Captain Tennille says, disturbingly calm. “The man you speak of is already dead at the bottom of the China Sea.”

“You…!” Mr. Joestar lunges at the impostor, barbs of sharp purple vines jutting from his hand. The fake Captain Tennille is much too quick, though – he elbows Sho hard in the chest plate, sending the both of you flying backwards before jumping onto the railings with the agility of a gymnast.

“What a shame…” He sighs. “I had hoped to take you all out one by one… But no matter…”

With this, he smiles down on all of you in challenge.

“Let’s see you try to take on my Dark Blue Moon in its home territory.”

You clutch at your stomach in pain, not quite able to get up just yet. Everything you witness afterwards seems to happen in slow motion, timed by the deafening pound of your heart in your ears.

_One beat._

You look up just in time to see the fake captain fall gracefully, his back to the sea. In response, your cohorts run to the boat’s edge in hot pursuit, with Jotaro in the lead. Star Platinum materializes like a ghost over Jotaro, closing the distance between him and the impostor.

_Two beats._

Star Platinum lands a lethal punch to the side of the captain’s head, long before the man even touches the water. The attack looks fatal, and you watch as the impostor’s head warps in a way it shouldn’t be able to.

_Three beats._

Fists connect to skin once more, just as the first explosions rock the boat. You instinctively shield your face as your vision is engulfed in a flurry of orange bangs and black smoke.

_Four beats._

Sho grabs your hand, pulling you up to your feet despite being sucker-punched himself just moments ago. He drags you towards the panicked sailors, who are running and shouting to get the lifeboats down.

_Five beats._

You brush past a smaller figure amidst the chaos, realizing instantly that it’s the stowaway. She looks terrified, and at un utter loss amongst the blur of rushing people. Without thinking, you grab the girl’s hand, pulling her with you to safety as the boat starts to sink beneath your feet.

☆

“Damn. We can’t trust anyone nowadays, huh?”

You watch as Mr. Joestar extends a hand to help Jotaro out of the water. Around you, your companions are gathered around a floating fireball that Avdol had conjured, drying themselves off with its warm flame. Well – all except for the kid huddled to your left. She hasn’t said a word since you’d dragged her into the lifeboat with you.

“I cracked his skull open when he tried to escape.” Jotaro says, settling next to Kakyoin. “Saw him sink to the seafloor with his Stand when I dived after him.”

Mr. Joestar tuts at this piece of information. “So much for a guy who says he’s on home turf.”

He looks out to the remains of the ship, which are now mostly shards of wood and metal floating around you.

“Still. I didn’t anticipate him planting bombs all over the ship like that. Puts us in quite a predicament now, since I have no idea where we are.”

Nobody says anything in response to this bleak statement. You merely look over to the second raft nearby, which holds the remaining crew members of the now obsolete boat. In any case, the atmosphere over there didn’t seem to be any better.

Now is a very bad time to be lost at sea – well, not that there ever is a good time to be. The sky is turning dark fast, and there is no way to call for help. And besides… of all the things you expect to kill you on this trip, dehydration at sea was definitely not one of them.

“I’ll do a little scouting.” Sho says from behind you. He’d been hovering silently around your lifeboat, making sure you and your friends were alright. “I can go far, as long as I'm within sight. With any luck I might spot a passing ship.”

“Good idea. Thanks, Sho.” Mr. Joestar says, nodding to him gratefully.

“Protect her while I’m gone.” Is all he says in response, zipping off without another word.

“Who the hell are you talking to, mister?”

The girl finally speaks up, having been watching Joseph talk to Sho the whole time. You eye Mr. Joestar as he fumbles for a way to explain Sho to a non-Stand user.

Although, it seems she figured out most of it by herself.

“It’s just like the captain said, right?” The girl says, narrowing her eyes at all of you. “You guys are controlling ‘Stands’. Like that invisible monster that grabbed me.”

She looks to you at this.

“Right?”

“Well.” You start. “I suppose you can say that. My Stand is called Sho. And he’s not a monster, because he just saved you and me.”

Mr. Joestar frowns as he regards the child critically, looking quite concerned despite his stern gaze.

“You got a lot of questions to answer yourself, kid. What were you doing on our boat? And where are your parents?”

“My name’s not Kid. It’s Anne.” She says huffily, bringing her knees closer to her stomach. “And I was going to see my dad in Singapore. This is the only way I can get to him.”

You get the feeling she isn’t being honest, though, when diverts her eyes at her own explanation. However, you don’t press her on this, since now isn’t exactly the most appropriate time for interrogations.

“So how are we gonna get out of here?” Anne demands, looking up to Joseph. “Are we gonna call for help?”

This time it’s Mr. Joestar’s turn to look away.

“We’ll have to wait to be rescued, I’m afraid. But don’t worry – this is a well-used seafaring route, so I’m sure another ship will pass by in no time.”

You have to admit – he sounds quite convincing. Though you wonder if Mr. Joestar really believes in what he says, when he looks tenser than ever as he adjusts himself in his seat.

☆

Getting stranded at sea is starting to feel like a routine.

The hours meld together indiscernibly, but judging from the pitch-black sky, you’d probably been on the lifeboat for nine to ten hours now. The men sit in silence around you, though you can’t tell if their eyes are just closed or if some of them have actually dozed off. Young Anne, however, huddles close to you in her sleep, like a slumbering puppy drawn to its mother’s warmth.

“Nothing again.” Sho floats down to sea level, sounding a little weary himself. He descends from his vantage point from time to time to check up on you, though he’s still dedicating himself to looking out for passing boats.

You merely nod in acknowledgement, not at all surprised with the lack of news. Fatigue is starting to gnaw at your very soul, but you force yourself to fight it off, knowing that Sho would dematerialize the moment you fall asleep. Besides, under normal circumstances, Sho would probably be nagging at you to get some rest, yet an unspoken understanding hangs in the air between you: for the sake of everyone on this raft, Sho has to keep looking for passing vessels - and you have to stay awake to let him do that.

“Still up, huh?”

You almost don’t register Kakyoin’s voice when he speaks, but you nod in response when he does.

“Yeah.” You say, quietly so as not to wake Anne. “I kinda have to, since Sho has to scout for us.”

Kakyoin tuts at this. His face is hard to make out in the dimness, but it’s clear that he isn’t happy with your response.

“Why don’t you get some rest. I’ll take over from here.” He says. Hierophant Green fades in behind him, glimmering like an emerald in the soft moonlight. When you hesitate a little with your answer, Kakyoin places his hand firmly on your wrist.

“You don’t have to keep watch by yourself.” He admonishes. “Seriously, now.”

“Alright, alright.” You say, relenting to his insistence. Despite your exhaustion, though, you can’t help but jibe at him a little. “Was wondering when you’d ask. _Sheesh_.”

He laughs softly at this, poking you in the forehead in response. Without another word, he turns his attention to the sea, letting Hierophant Green speed off and up into the sky. Sho, for his part, takes it as his cue to nod gratefully at Kakyoin before fading off himself.

As for you, you try to make yourself cozy – or at least, as cozy as one can be lodged in the corner of a wooden lifeboat. In the end it didn't matter, because you clock out the moment you let your eyes close.


	8. The Moon's Strength, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Previously, on WASCAS:
> 
> All was going well on your second day at sea, when a stowaway jumps overboard and forces Sho to come to their rescue. Then an aquatic Stand nearly gets the two while they're still in the water, and so it was up to your team to figure out who was behind the attack. The result: a fake Captain Tennille getting his skull smashed in by Jotaro, but not before setting bombs off on your ship and rendering you stranded at sea for the second time in four days.
> 
> How the hell are you gonna get to Singapore now?

“Hey, wake up… There’s someone here to rescue us…”

It feels as if you’d only closed your eyes for a few moments when you feel yourself already being shaken awake by Anne. Her face and demeanour emanate urgency, but you don’t quite put your finger on why until you register your surroundings.

A thick fog has surrounded the lifeboat, blocking out most of the early morning sunlight and everything more than 50 meters away from you. Save for the other raft with the sailors, you can make nothing out of the haze except still, murky seawater.

Well… that, and the gargantuan cargo ship that’s coming your way.

“You think it’s coming to help us?” Kakyoin’s asking, his back turned towards you as he takes in the behemoth of a freighter. Avdol does the same, his eyebrows slightly scrunched together as he regards the approaching vessel.

“I certainly wish that were the case, but I don’t see anyone on board.”

Kakyoin nods to this. “Yeah, it’s awfully quiet for a ship on a rescue course. And I don’t know if this fog has anything to do with it, but it really makes that thing creepier than it needs to be.”

By now, you’d gathered enough context to understand what’s happening. Your voice sounds throaty and dry when you speak, as you ask the question that hangs in the back of everyone’s minds.

“You think that boat has enemy Stands on it?”

“There better not be, if they know what’s good for them.” Polnareff says, clearly disgruntled by the suggestion. “I’d appreciate being able to go a day without _those_ guys throwing themselves at us.”

Yet nobody dares to shut down such a possibility. The freighter floats on the sea’s surface, causing neither sound nor ripple as it creeps towards you steadily. It might as well be a ghost ship, for all it’s worth; there was definitely nothing normal in the way it cuts through the water.

You watch in mixed awe and apprehension as its metal hull brushes past your lifeboat, the bow parking itself right next to your seat. Loud creaks echo around you as a staircase lowers itself on its starboard side. The mechanism that brings it down is surely rusted, for the resulting whine of steel parts grating against each other nearly make you recoil in discomfort.

The noise dies down as the stairs finally jerk to a stop, the first step perched invitingly just centimetres from your lifeboat.

“Oh, _hell_ no.” Mr. Joestar says, crossing his arms.

Polnareff, however, has a very different reaction. He sidesteps Joseph and hoists himself onto the white-painted staircase.

“What, you’re all scared?” He says, looking down to see all of you still seated. He stomps one black boot onto the metal planks, the sound reverberating much too loudly for comfort.

“It’s sturdy – see? Nothing to worry about.”

 _That’s not really the issue here_ , you think to yourself.

Jotaro, on the other hand, gives Polnareff a stony look.

“Think about it. They lower the steps, yet there isn’t a single soul in sight to greet us. Now tell me if this look more like a welcome ensemble to you, or a setup to ambush people stupid enough to walk right into it.”

“And what of it?” Polnareff scoffs. “If this thing’s full of Stand users we’ll just have to beat their asses now, don’t we? I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna sit around waiting on that piece of _driftwood_ any longer.”

With that, he turns to climb the steps, leaving you all very much exasperated, but with little choice but to go after him.

Jotaro just sighs irritably on his turn to disembark the raft. He looks to Anne, reaching his hand out in a thoughtful gesture that catches you off guard.

“Here. I’ll help you get off.”

But Anne just sticks her tongue out at him, choosing to cling to your side instead – it seems she still hasn’t forgiven him for yesterday’s hat incident.

“… Good grief.” Is all Jotaro says. He doesn’t insist, though he looks to you questioningly in turn.

You grasp Anne’s hand firmly before grabbing Jotaro’s for support. His grip is strong and steady, but the force he pulls you with is more than you expect, causing you to nearly collide into his chest when you jump onto the stair.

“Th-thanks.” You say, almost losing your balance in surprise. He merely nods in acknowledgement to this, so you and Anne wordlessly follow him up the stairs, onto the freighter and possibly into enemy hands.

☆

It’s just as the others had suspected – the deck is completely void of life, save for your group and the sailors that trudge after you. Pity tugs at your insides as the boat crew huddles together, fear evident on their faces. Although, you figure you’d feel the same way, if you yourself were a non-Stand user in their position.

“We should do some scouting before we wander around.” Kakyoin says decisively. “What say you and I do that, Sho?”

You turn to see Sho floating around, not having realized that he’d appeared on his own. Sho, for his part, looks back to you in subtle hesitation, clearly reluctant to let you out of his sight.

He concedes, in the end.

“Alright, but let me do the outside.”

“Sounds good to me.” Kakyoin replies. Without further talk, Sho flies off to the upper levels of the boat, peering methodically into the windows of the higher floors. Kakyoin, on the other hand, summons Hierophant Green, which slips beneath the metal planks into the lower echelons of the ship.

“ _AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!_ ”

Hierophant’s tail had scarcely vanished when a terrible scream pierces through the silence. Everyone turns instinctively to the noise, and you feel your heart stop as you process just what you’re looking at.

There’s no sane explanation for what you’re seeing - A crewmate hangs some 40 meters in the air above you, blood slowly running down his limp form. You realize from the metal jutting out his throat that he’d been skewered through the neck, then somehow lifted into the sky by the crane hook that had impaled him.

“Anne…!”

Your first reflex is to shield the young girl from having to look at the gory display, but you turn to see Jotaro already blocking her view of the corpse with his own body.

It’s too late though – you can see how tense Anne’s become, like she’s completely forgotten how to breathe.

So you run to her, kneeling down just as Sho comes flying back. The young girl’s eyes are wide and blank, like she barely seems to see you. Despite this, you gently take her shoulders, channeling Silver Tongue as you speak.

“Don’t be scared, Anne. We’ll keep you safe, so forget about what you saw just now, okay?”

She looks at you searchingly in return, as if looking for a promise in your eyes. Slowly, though, she visibly relaxes, all dread and anxiety fading from her face.

“…Okay.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Joestar shouts for the crew members to get away from the machinery. You look up and feel your stomach lurch, realizing with foreboding just how many metal cranes hang over you.

“There’s a lot of empty rooms below deck.” Kakyoin says to Joseph. “We should send the crew inside where they’ll be safe.”

Mr. Joestar nods at this and starts barking orders for the sailors to move their asses indoors. They comply without hesitation, which you take as your cue to nudge Anne after them.

“Go with them.” You say gently. “You’ll be safer inside.”

Anne looks back and forth between you and Jotaro, clearly reluctant to leave your sides. Nonetheless, she gives you a silent nod before turning to hurry after the men.

“Poor girl.” You say, standing up once she’s out of sight. “No one should have to witness something like that.”

“Tell me about it…” Jotaro says, examining the winches closely. “Whoever was behind that sure had some bad manners… that was no way to greet a lady.”

Meanwhile, Avdol looks silently at the corpse hanging above your heads, being the only one with enough guts to do so for more than five seconds.

“There’s no doubt about it.” He says darkly. “This is the work of a Stand user - No ordinary human could have killed him so fast, let alone without being detected.”

“They’re toying with us, aren’t they?” Mr. Joestar says, watching the blood slowly dripping onto the floor under the carcass. His expression is mostly neutral, save for the crease on his brow that betrays his growing unease. Still, none of it shows in the way he addresses you all resolutely.

“Well, I say we go on full offense and find them. Once we do, we take them out for good. And no holding back, for the sake of everyone we brought on board.”

All of you nod in agreement to his conviction. Kakyoin, however, jerks his head up unexpectedly, looking to you all with renewed urgency.

“Hierophant just found something in the boiler room. I think you’ll find it very… interesting.”

☆

Avdol volunteers to keep watch of Anne and the sailors, so he parts ways with the main group at the staircase, leaving the rest of you to venture further into the lower levels of the ship.

The first thing you notice as you follow Kakyoin into the boiler room is that it’s awfully cold inside. You’d expect the place to be much hotter, given that it was supposed to provide the steam to power the freighter.

But that was nowhere near as strange as the caged monkey sitting in the room.

“A _monkey_?” Polnareff says incredulously. “What’s a _monkey_ doing on the ship?”

“Actually, that’s an orangutan. Makes it an ape, not a monkey.” Kakyoin says, regarding the animal with great fascination. It stares disinterestedly back, its hands gripping the metal bars trapping it in its cell. Kakyoin continues:

“And I don’t know. Hierophant looked through this ship thoroughly - This was the only other living thing onboard.”

“Well whatever it’s doing here, someone has to be feeding it.” Mr. Joestar says. “Let’s go find that bastard already - this place is giving me the creeps.”

The door leading into the room creaks with movement, and all of you reflexively snap towards the noise, ready to attack. Instead of the enemy, however, you see Anne peeking in from the doorframe, equally taken back by your aggressive reactions.

“What the- hey, kid!” Polnareff says, sounding angry. “You shouldn’t go wandering off like that!”

Anne flinches a little at the reprimand, but recovers almost immediately.

“I only saw you guys go in here, okay? I was just- just checking up on you…”

The men start muttering at her shoddy excuse, so you go to her with haste, looking back to the others reassuringly as you do.

“Look, it’s no big deal. Why don’t Sho and I take her back to Avdol? You guys can go ahead and investigate here.”

Nobody argues with this, since they clearly just want Anne out of the suspicious monkey chamber. You motion her to follow you, though she doesn’t even notice at first; her jaw drops as soon as she lays eyes on the orangutan, her expression turning to one of disbelief. The monkey, in turn, stares back, suddenly fixated on her with unusual interest.

In any case, you as good as shoo Anne out of the room – you don’t like the way she’s caught the orangutan’s attention.

☆

“You just worried them, is all. Something could’ve happened while you were on your own.”

This doesn’t do anything to quell Anne’s downcast expression. You watch as she fiddles with her tattered gray hat, pulling at it restlessly as she walks. Sho brings in the rear, hovering watchfully behind the both of you.

“You should probably stop wearing that old thing so much,” you joke, “unless you want it to merge with your scalp like Jotaro’s.”

“I can’t.” Anne mumbles. “I need it. To hide my hair.”

“Oh?” You raise your eyebrows at this. “But why would you want to? It looks beautiful when it’s down.”

“It’s not that I hate it.” She says, suddenly sounding defensive. “Men get scary when they find out I’m a girl.”

You fall silent at her statement, completely at a loss with how to respond. The two of you walk wordlessly for a minute more before you break the silence with a reply.

“Then does that mean you’re afraid of Mr. Joestar and the others?”

“No…!” She says quickly, glaring up at you. “I could shank them all if I wanted to.”

The unexpected vulgarity almost makes you laugh in surprise, though you quickly turn away so Anne doesn’t notice.

“I see.” You say, unable to help the smile on your lips. “I don’t think it will ever come to that, though.”

Your expression quickly changes into a frown as you swerve round a corner, where the stairs should’ve been. A quick glance at your surroundings draws your eyes to some valves on the right wall – now that you think about it, you swear you’ve walked past those praticular ones before.

Did you make a wrong turn somewhere?

Sho, however, confirms you haven’t. “That’s funny. The stairs are supposed to be right here.”

You immediately think to backtrack at this, yet looking back to the corridor you’d come from only serves to throw you off even further – the doors have completely changed positions, along with the plumbing attached to the walls, making it look like a different hallway altogether.

“Shit…!” Sho curses. “The passageway changed just now, I saw it!”

“This isn’t good.” You mutter, instinctively taking Anne’s hand. She looks scared at your sudden change in demeanour, but you neglect to reassure her, much too distracted by the dire situation at hand.

The ship is definitely shapeshifting, and judging from the vanished staircase, it’s clear that whoever is behind this does not want you to leave.

Your first instinct is to try finding your way back to the others; they must still be on this floor, at the very least, so you pull Anne along decisively, hoping she doesn’t catch on to how lost you’re starting to feel.

No good strategies come to mind, so you simply try door after door, only to find empty rooms one after the other. Theories of the enemy Stand’s abilities fly through your head all the while – Could they create illusions? Or bend metal to manipulate the ship? Then again, why assume there’s only one Stand user to begin with?

You push open the next door, expecting another dead end when your eyes land on a familiar cage.

The orangutan chamber.

The quiet in the room fills you with foreboding - None of your companions are anywhere to be seen; you’d assumed they would still be here by the time you came back.

“What gives? We’re all the way back here.” Anne says huffily. Her curious expression is in stark contrast with her annoyed tone, however, and she steps towards the cage gingerly to take a closer look at the caged ape.

The orangutan, in turn, holds its hand out to offer her an apple slice. Your breath hitches as a furry arm extends beyond the bars of its cell, inviting Anne to come closer to meet it. Yet the young girl stays rooted to the spot, fortunately cautious enough not to go any closer.

“Where did everybody go?” Sho says, flitting around the room to peer around the tanks and miscellaneous machinery. You simply watch his cursory inspection of the room, unwilling to leave Anne’s side.

“You think they left to investigate somewhere else?” you muse, your eyes never taking themselves off the ape.

Sho shakes his head at your half-assed suggestion. “Come on, the rooms literally _moved_ around just now. You should probably be more worried they’re gone.”

Suddenly, he stops right in front of the monkey, whose hand is still extended insistently towards Anne.

“Wait a minute… How’d that thing cut the apple in half?” He says, scrutinizing the fruit in its grasp.

“I-I don’t know,” Anne says, “And look – it’s fresh, too… It hasn’t even started browning or anything…”

The orangutan hoots lowly at this, baring some of its startlingly sharp teeth, its eyes flicking to Sho threateningly. Sho reacts just as fast, drawing his katana and pointing it at the monkey.

“It can see me…! I don’t believe it, it’s-!”

You don’t hear the rest of his sentence, since next thing you know you’re flying violently across the room – the air is knocked out of your lungs as your back slams roughly into the wall, forcing a gasp of pain out of you.

Anne’s screams echo distantly in your ears, and you thrash against the hard, metal things you feel pinning you down. Curses fly from your lips as you try to wriggle free, and when your vision refocuses, you realize that the things stapling you to the wall are, in fact, long, black, iron bars.

_No._

You look up in panic to see the orangutan completely free of his cage. Terror lurches in your stomach when it draws itself up its full height, looking hungrily down at Anne, who stands petrified in the middle of the room.

“- a Stand user…” Sho groans from your right. You turn to see him in the same predicament as you, pinned tightly to the wall and unable to do anything about it. His katana lays just out of reach, completely useless and abandoned on the floor.

“Anne, run!” You shout desperately. “Go find the others!”

Yet the only exit slams shut the moment the words leave your lips, the sound causing Anne to tense up further in fear. The orangutan, meanwhile, is close enough to touch the young girl. You watch helplessly as the ape reaches down, stroking a finger down her shaking face, tracing along her jawline and neck…

“Get away from her!” You hiss, feeling sharp pain pierce through your skull with the sheer force you put into Silver Tongue. It seems to have worked, if only momentarily - the ape stops in its tracks, looking slightly confused as it tries to remember what it’s doing.

_Bang._

The metal door bursts free of its hinges, hitting the opposite wall with enough impact to leave a dent.

A purple fist juts from the doorway in its place.

“Jotaro!” You nearly cry from relief when he steps into the room. One glance around tells him everything he needs to know - he directs his stare to the orangutan, who growls back in anger.

The ceiling fan suddenly flies towards Jotaro, its sharp blades spinning towards him like a deadly frisbee. This attack is no match for his Stand, though – it catches the thing with the speed to match, swinging it back to the ape and missing the top of its head by mere millimeters.

“Ora!!”

The orangutan, in turn, whimpers and recoils at this. Against all logic, it sinks into the wall like the metal surface was made of quicksand, and before you know it, the ape had completely disappeared, presumably to escape the wrath of Star Platinum.

The metal rods trapping you clang to the ground, once again governed by gravity. You run to Anne to make sure she’s okay – the young girl’s shaken up pretty badly, but is otherwise unharmed. She clings to you tightly, tears soaking the hem of your shirt.

“You okay, half pint?”

Anne nods at Jotaro’s question, unable to speak from fright. You stroke her head gently, allowing her to bury her head in your shoulder as you address Jotaro urgently.

“Jotaro, there’s a reason Kakyoin only found that _beast_ onboard.” You say. “That’s because there really _is_ nobody else here – that monkey’s the Stand user…!”

“I see.” Jotaro nods, accepting your statement without so much as surprise. “That would explain how he manages to control everything on the ship.”

He looks to the metal rod jutting from the ceiling, where the overhead fan once hung.

“Not to mention, controlling the crane… shifting the rooms around, then disappearing into the wall… I’m willing to bet that this whole freighter is his Stand.”

Your eyes widen at this conclusion, yet there is no time to react. The whole ship starts to tremble, right on cue to Jotaro’s words. You hear the distant groans of shifting metal as the entire vessel becomes animated with movement.

It feels alive, angry – and malleable to the orangutan’s emotions.

Metal pipes spring from the walls, popping free from their metal guards. The screws holding them in place fly free like miniature bullets, and you raise your arms reflexively to shield yourself and Anne. You didn’t need to - Sho darts forward, deflecting the ricocheting metal with his katana.

“Tch.” Jotaro says. “Seems like that ape confirmed that theory for us.”

At this point, Jotaro and you are standing back to back, shielding Anne protectively with Sho and Star Platinum. You notice with horror as the walls start to close in on you, pulsing like the inside of a human heart and making the room smaller with each beat.

“It’s trying to crush us before we can find and tell the others.” Jotaro says, watching the walls encroach fast on the five of you.

“That ape even removed the exit,” Sho says, gripping his katana even tighter. “We’ve got nowhere to go…!”

One glance to the west wall confirms this. Anne clings to the back of your shirt in terror - despite your panic, you feel guilt broiling subconsciously within you. You understand being roped into this Stand business with Jotaro, but it doesn’t feel fair that Anne - or the remaining boat crew, for that matter - should have to be collateral in a fight they have nothing to do with…

“I got it,” you suddenly say, an idea sparking in your head when you feel the young girl's hand clutching at you. “Jotaro, that monkey has a weird thing for Anne – I can take advantage of that and call it here… so when, and _if,_ it shows its face…”

Your eyes meet his hard blue ones in burning conviction.

“You get what I’m saying?”

Jotaro only says one thing in reply.

“Hurry.”

“Yo, monkey!” You shout, channelling Silver Tongue with urgency like you never have before. “You don’t want to harm Anne now, do you?”

The encroaching walls seem to slow down at this, as if hesitating just a little. You continue:

“That’s right, you don’t… In fact, you can’t see her where you are, can you? Why don’t you come in and make sure she’s fine? I’m sure Anne would _love_ it if you did.”

The young girl in question responds to this with a punch to your hip. You merely smile back apologetically at this – you’ll have to make it up to her later.

“Ora!!!”

Star Platinum grabs the orangutan by the neck the moment it peeks its head into the room. You wince and pull Anne out of the way as Jotaro swings a couple of hard blows across its face, before slamming it into the ground in a painful-looking chokehold.

"Oraoraora!!!"

The monkey, for its part, is writhing around frantically, blood running from gashes on its skull. The whole ship stops groaning, and slowly the room returns into its original size, the walls sliding backwards to their former positions.

“Jotaro…” You say as the monkey goes limp in Star Platinum’s grip. “I think… I think it doesn’t wanna fight anymore.”

“Really, now?” Jotaro turns to the terrified orangutan held under him. “I think it’s a bit too late to ask for forgiveness.”

The ape starts whimpering at this. The surrender is unmistakable; it clearly just does not want to get hurt any more. You watch as it flinches when Star Platinum raises a fist in preparation for another blow.

"Wait," you say hastily. Some instinct compels you to intervene before it gets pummelled to hell and back by Jotaro - as much as you despise the thing trapped in Star's grip, you still feel pity for the way it cowers into itself.

"What?" Jotaro says, starting to sound a little impatient. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for this sack of shit."

You neither confirm nor deny this, but only look at Jotaro firmly - The monkey had surrendered. Surely there was another way to deal with it, other than beating it to death.

"Think about it," you say slowly, the cogs in your head turning as you speak. "We have that ape wrapped around our finger, and this entire Ship is its Stand, isn't it? Then... If we control the orangutan... then we control this boat too."

Jotaro gives you another one of his long, indiscernible looks, yet the annoyance on his face has subtly been rearranged into a frown of contemplation.

The orangutan shrinks visibly when Jotaro kneels down, looking it straight in the eye.

“Listen up, monkey. You know what Singapore is?”

The orangutan nods frantically in response - you almost feel bad when Star Platinum’s hold only tightens around its neck as a result.

“Good.” Jotaro continues. “Now here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna take us to Singapore with your Stand, and you’re gonna do it in a day. Got that?”

The monkey whines pitifully at this, but you feel the ship lurch underneath your feet as the freighter starts moving once more, no doubt following your cohort’s orders to the letter.

Jotaro, in turn, settles on the floor beside the orangutan, letting Star continue to hold it in a death grip.

“Make yourselves comfortable.” He says, bringing his hand up to his hat. “This is gonna be a long ride.”

You scarcely have time to do anything when the rest of your companions rush into the room; Avdol is in the lead, followed by Kakyoin, Polnareff and Mr. Joestar. They’re all panting heavily, as if they’d been running around for quite a while.

“Thank goodness you’re alive!” Mr. Joestar exclaims. It’s clearly taking him a lot of effort to speak, and it worries you when he starts clutching at his heart. This is nothing, though, compared to when his eyes bug out the moment he notices the pinned-down monkey.

“What the –“

“We can explain,” you say hastily, motioning for everyone to sit and take a breather. You might as well catch the others up to speed, if it means Mr. Joestar doesn’t drop dead on the spot from cardiac arrest.

☆

“Amazing,” Avdol’s eyes widen as you finish up the story. “An orangutan with a ship for a Stand… What incredible strength…”

“Who would’ve thought, huh?” Polnareff says. His eyes never left the monkey the whole time you’ve been talking. “For that thing to find us all the way out at sea, then to trick us into thinking it’s harmless…”

“Oh, I had my suspicions.” Kakyoin says. “We might’ve confirmed it sooner ourselves, but we got worried when we noticed you were gone for so long. Then we found out you and Anne weren’t with Avdol, so we split up at once to look for you.”

“I see.” You say. “Well. Good thing Jotaro found me when he did – Who knows what would’ve happened if he hadn't.”

Mr. Joestar grins at this. “Well, turns out you two make _ape_ -erfect team, eh?”

You let out a sound between a laugh and a groan at this, while Jotaro scowls and pulls down his hat. Everyone else, though, takes it as their cue to leave.

“Well.” Avdol says, suddenly all business-like. “I should go see how the boat crew is doing.”

“Right.” Nods Kakyoin. “And I’ll go on deck to make sure we’re headed the right way.”

“Take me with you. _S’il vous plaît_.” Polnareff mutters.

“Oh, come on, guys,” Mr. Joestar gives one of his booming laughs, getting to his feet as well. “But that was a good one!”

One by one, the men trickle out of the room. Anne lingers a little, looking to you and Jotaro like a lost puppy.

“Go on, why don’t you get some fresh air with Kakyoin?” You say lightly – the way she still looks at the orangutan with fear is not lost on you.

She nods, turning to hurry out of the boiler room and after your redhaired friend. Save for Star still pinning down the monkey, this leaves only Jotaro, Sho and you in the room.

“I’ll go as well.” Sho says, once he realizes this fact himself. You suppose he still doesn’t like having to interact with Jotaro when it’s just the three of you.

To your surprise though, Sho gives Jotaro a cordial nod.

“Thanks, man.” He says, before fading off into thin air.

Jotaro pulls out a pack of cigarettes, taking one in between his lips. You watch as he brings the lighter to its tip, cursing when the cigarette turns out to be too soaked to smoke.

He looks at you, when he realizes you haven’t moved to leave the room.

“And what are _you_ still doing here?”

“Gimme a break.” You say tiredly, leaning your head back on the wall and closing your eyes. All your use of Silver Tongue thus far had taken quite a bit out of you.

“I’m pretty worn out, so I’ll just stay put, if you don’t mind.”

“Do what you want.” He says. You hear a _flick_ as Jotaro tosses his damp cigarette to the side. He doesn’t make any moves to start a conversation, so you take advantage of the silence to speak first.

“I owe you one.” You say. “You really saved Anne and I back there.”

“Yeah. Well, I'd say you wouldn't make a bad leader yourself. It was a good call to use this ship to get to Singapore.”

You smile softly at the compliment. Jotaro is definitely a hard-ass, but you gotta admit – Mr. Joestar isn’t wrong when he says the two of you work well together.

“Good thing I insisted on coming along, huh?”

“Don’t get cocky now. Not to be literal, but you're pretty much all talk and no action.”

“Ha! Did you, Jotaro I-Hate-Wordplay Kujo, just make a pun of your own volition?”

There’s nothing but silence for a couple of seconds, and a grin tugs on the corners of your mouth as you imagine the scowl on his face.

“Not a word of this to the old man.” He mutters.

You laugh at this but say nothing further, letting yourself sink into your own fatigue. The rest of the boat ride passes in comfortable silence - just you, Jotaro, and the monkey he’s holding hostage with Star Platinum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Is Sho possibly starting to forgive Jotaro for dragging Reader-chan into this Dio mess?
> 
> Also, a rather important update: I was just informed it isn't a reader-insert if I set a name for Reader-chan (shoutout to the anon who pointed it out to me!) So from now on, Reader-chan's name is now truly up to the readers to set for themselves - along with appropriate changes to the tags, ofc 😌 Do forgive me for the ignorance, this is my first proper fanfic after all :)
> 
> Also, I draw the line at (y/n)ing the main character - my mind goes Error 404 every time I see that cursed name, not to mention it being memed to death and back ;-; sorry but the (y/n) staple has no place in my fanfic
> 
> As always, leave a comment telling me what you think (especially constructive ones) and I'll see you in the next update <3 Take care now <3
> 
> \- MURINO


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